🚀 go-pugleaf

bwarsaw@cnri.reston.va.us (Barry A. Warsaw) writes:

>>>>>> "CK" == Christopher Key <skip@fohnix.metronet.com> writes:

>    >> When they use the term "software", they mean source. A lot of
>    >> people are confused because they take "free software" to mean
>    >> "binaries I can get for no price".

How can people be so unreasonable?! Imagine! "Free" means "free".
There should be a law...

>    CK> Here's the problem.  A compiled binary _is_ still software,
>    CK> and the FSF can't change that.  Just because the FSF doesn't
>    CK> like binary-only distributions doesn't change that.  I think
>    CK> very few people other than a few activists would have a
>    CK> problem considering a binary that contained no restrictions on
>    CK> its usage or distribution free software.

>What if I wanted to check a piece of software for time-bombs or other
>`anti-social' behavior, or if I want to write some enhancement, or
>patch a bug, or port it to a new OS?  I am not free to do any of this
>with a binary-only distribution.

So you can't. So if I go to a soup kitchen for a free meal, and I
expect it to taste like a meal from an expensive restaurant, it won't.
But it's still free. "Free" means "no cost". Just because you and
the FSF have decided to change the meaning of a common word doesn't
mean anyone else has to go along with it.

--

Ron House.         USQ                   | A nonviolent diet is the
(house@usq.edu.au) Toowoomba, Australia. | foundation for a nonviolent world.