I have heard Richard speak as well and read his papers. He has done much to spread the free software gospel, especially in developing countries. But even the Free Software Foundation is sounding a more moderate tone these days, trying to articulate compellingly the values of f/oss without discounting the real and pragmatic issues that organizations face trying to deploy it. I think both conversations are important to have without pitting them against each other as they really are complementary and mutually reinforcing in so many ways. I personally think not much is gained by engaging in the high-pitched ideological battles that Raymond and Stallman engage in.
Incidentally, I am running a panel at the NTEN nonprofit technology conference on "Why should nonprofits care about free and open source software" where we will have, schedule permitting, the ED of the Free Software Foundation, Bradley Kuhn, speak precisely about the philosophical and ethical issues of free software. There will be other panelists talking about pragmatic reasons for using Open Source, engaging in a dialogue on both angles.
Katrin At 03:05 PM 2/19/2004, Mark Bucciarelli wrote:
On Tuesday 17 February 2004 11:53 am, Katrin Verclas wrote: > NOSI, the Nonprofit Open Source Initiative, announces the > release of its new guide "Choosing and Using Open Source > Software: A Primer for Nonprofits." It is available for > download at http://www.nosi.net Did anyone else read this? I read it quickly, and I didn't see a single mention of software freedom. Saw RMS speak on Tuesday night, and he said he thinks that people who coined the term "open source" have succeeded in turning the discussion away from the philosophical and ethical concerns that led to GNU and the FSF. Based on what I saw in this publication, he is certainly correct. Regards, Mark -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-nonprofit-request@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org