Re: open source or free software?
Mason Loring Bliss <mason@blisses.org> writes:
> On Sun, Aug 31, 2014 at 12:28:51AM +0100, Ian Jackson wrote:
>> This is an absurd misrepresentation. No-one is threatening to prevent
>> you using the words the FSF disapprove of.
> And yet, an argument about the merits of saying "free software" versus
> saying "open source" is nothing more than an attempt to push a
> particular political stance.
Everything that we do on a day-to-day basis pushes a political stance.
Politics is nothing more or less than the process whereby we negotiate
with each other about long-term goals, and try to balance our wants and
desires against those of others.
*Everything* is politics. You cannot avoid politics. Calling something
political is not an insult any more than accusing someone else of using a
computer is an insult. Of *course* it's political. Everything is
political.
If you want to avoid politics entirely, good luck finding a small cabin in
the woods where you can withdraw from all other humans. Which, I should
note, is also a political act.
> It's a waste of time and divisive all at once, when there are more
> important things to talk about.
Claiming that there are more important things to talk about is nothing
more than an attempt to push a particular political stance. :)
You can, as I have and as others have, argue that the discussion is not
going to reach any new conclusions, and that one should choose what to do
about it with that information in mind. But while that may make it a
waste of time, that doesn't make it less important. That just makes it
unresolvable, which is a different problem.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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