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GFDL compromise - Deadend.



MJ Ray <markj@cloaked.freeserve.co.uk> a tapoté :

> On 2003-09-12 10:28:38 +0100 Mathieu Roy <yeupou@gnu.org> wrote:
> > because it's out of the scope of
> > _software_, indeed, unless you pretend that any work on earth is
> > software).
> 
> Mathieu can say this as much as he likes, but it does not make it
> true.  It is not necessary to pretend that all works are software,
> just to know that all works in Debian are software.  What is true,
> definitely for Debian and probably in general, is that these works on
> computer are software.  Once again, people who disagree with Debian's
> definition of free software may have to collect some things that they
> think free from outside Debian: this is not new.
> 
> The difference is not in spirit, but semantics: GNU has defined
> "software" as a synonym for "programs" which seems odd to me and seems
> to open a can of worms about literate programming, opinion pieces on
> sources, ktp.


  Software: "(computer science) written programs or procedures 
 or rules and associated documentation pertaining to the operation
 of a computer system and that are stored in read/write memory"
 (from WordNet 1.7).

I think you have an extraordinary large definition of software,
unfortunately not shared by all the dictionnaries I know.

For most people on earth, I do not think that software defines "theses
works" (philosophical/political/historical texts) that may be "on
computer".

However, you can have your own definition of software. But it's seems
to me just a poor way to defend what seems to be your true feeling:
that every texts, of every kind, on computer or not, should follow the
Free Software rules. 

Regards,





-- 
Mathieu Roy
 
  Homepage:
    http://yeupou.coleumes.org
  Not a native english speaker: 
    http://stock.coleumes.org/doc.php?i=/misc-files/flawed-english



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