Re: Debian? Not true GNU/Linux?? Say it isn't so!
On Thu, Apr 03, 2008 at 09:39:00PM -0400, Hal Vaughan wrote:
> as RMS would in saying closed source is unethical. I also have to
> wonder if he would have the same stance if, when he started that
> crusade, he weren't at a university, but had to make a living and pay
> the bills and pay for junior's food by programming at a company that
> made money on software.
"I cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure or software license
agreement"
"Restricting copying is not the only means for making a profit in
software development."
"There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to
maximise one's income, as long as one does not use means that are
destructive. But the means customarily used in the area of software
development today are based on destruction. Extracting money from users
of a program by restricting their use of it is destructive because the
restrictions reduce the amount that and the ways in which the program
can be used. This reduces the amount of wealth that humanity derives
from a program. When there is a deliberate choice to restrict, the
harmful consequences are deliberate destruction. The reason a good
citizen does not use such destructive means to become wealthier is
because, if everyone did so, we would all become poorer from the mutual
destructiveness. This is Kantian ethics, or, the Golden Rule. Since I do
not like the consequences that result if everyone hoards information, I
am required to consider it wrong for one person to do so. Specifically,
the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity does not justify
depriving the world in general of all or part of that creativity."
The paragraphs above are snippets from "The Gnu Manifesto" by Richard
Stallman. in Dr. Dobb's Journal #101 March 1985. pp 30-34[1]
(I wonder if its worth anything -- offers by private mail welcome.)
So, yes of course he would still have the same stance, it would all
depend on the ethics of the "company that made money on software."
Hopefully, these days, no one is *forced* into working for a company which
goes against their ethics.
I'm not sure if the "Gnu Manifesto", or the "Golden Rule" is online, I
think I remember a link to the Golden Rule somewhere on the Gnu site.
HTH
[1] I wonder if its worth anything -- offers by private mail welcome.
--
Chris.
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