Re: An open letter to the debian community
On Mon, 6 Dec 1999, Godric wrote:
> Am I alone in believing the battle is between empowerment and
> profit?
Not at all alone I think that there are amny, who agree with you. For me
as well empowerment is the main issue.
> Between an interactive computer operating system, and a
> basically non-interactive proprietary one?
> GNU/Linux to me and a few others is unique because of this
> empowerment.
Exactly.
> Again - the point is not Linux vs. the other guys, but
> empowerment vs. restrictive profit driven software.
> Why is GNU/Linux so good? Because it is faster etc. etc.? No -
> because it gives us choice; the ability to understand it and
> alter it. And also distribute it without restrictions.
I cannot (yet) alter it much. But I know that I can distribute it freely
to many others, who have more time than me to develop it...
> I repeat, it is not *Linux* (as many people mistakenly call it)
> which is important - it's free software.
Exactly. And as for myself I'll move to Hurd as soon as I'll get debian a
package hurd kernel easy enough to replace the linux kernel. In my opinion
the GNU project and GPL have been the biggest things so far for this free
software, not the linux kernel.
> Debian is important because it is free software - it just happens
> to be the best GNU/Linux distro around, perhaps because the
> developers care more about getting it right than they do about
> profit or even *beating windoze*. That is, because they are
> motivated by something other than market forces.
I agree with you quite completely.
hv
hvirtane@cc.jyu.fi
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