On Sat, Jan 24, 2004 at 12:40:18AM -0500, Raul Miller wrote:
> > I can only presume that Raul is trying to appeal to people who want to
> > drop non-free, who want to get GFDL-licensed stuff out of main, and
> > who want to keep GFDL-licensed stuff. That's nuts.
>
> It's my observation that a number of people have inconsistent outlooks
> on various aspects of the non-free issue. For example, consider the
> thread which contains repeated claims about human ethics and the evilness
> non-free software.
>
> The only way I know of to address these sorts of inconsistencies involves
> examples.
If your point is that a significant portion of the enfranchised
developers are nuts, then I have to point out the futility of trying
to prove anything to them.
But you haven't been trying to prove anything to them, you've been
using this as an argument for why non-free shouldn't be dropped.
> Finally, note that software currently in main which does not satisfy
> all of our guidelines will get dropped -- there will be no "fallback
> position". In particular, I'm thinking of GFDL licensed documentation,
> but I can't guarantee that that's all.
There is no attempt here to point out the inherent contradiction -
rather, you're trying to suggest that dropping non-free is somehow
responsible for this.
> > (Or spread FUD)
>
> This is the third time I've seen you use the term FUD on this list in
> reference to my posts. In no case do you seem to justify your use of
> the term (What's the fear? What's the uncertainty? What's the doubt?)
Uhh, it's not obvious?
<jargon> /fuhd/ An acronym invented by {Gene Amdahl}
after he left {IBM} to found his own company: "FUD is the
fear, uncertainty, and doubt that {IBM} sales people instill
in the minds of potential customers who might be considering
[Amdahl] products." The idea, of course, was to persuade them
to go with safe IBM gear rather than with competitors'
equipment. This implicit coercion was traditionally
accomplished by promising that Good Things would happen to
people who stuck with IBM, but Dark Shadows loomed over the
future of competitors' equipment or software.
The "fear, uncertainty, and doubt" is that a given position leads to
an undesireable result. It is distinct from a real argument in that no
justification or accurate description of the result is ever given,
merely a suggestion that there will be one, and it will be bad. It is
characterised by the way that it is impossible for anybody to respond
(other than simply pointing out that it is FUD) because not enough
details are given.
See SCO for a classic example of FUD in practice.
--
.''`. ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
: :' : http://www.debian.org/ |
`. `' |
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