🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Mar3.145328.13317@franklin.com>, jesse@franklin.com (Jesse Perry) writes:
|> abraham@iesd.auc.dk (Per Abrahamsen) replied:
|> >I think your use of the word "assisting" is at least as interesting
|> >as the FSF use of the word "free".
|> 
|> "Assist" is active; "allow" is passive.  There is a difference.
|> 
|> If I'm at the grocery store, and I see an old lady struggling
|> to carry out a heavy bag, I'm hardly "assisting" her by, say,
|> refraining from knocking her over -- I'm then merely "allowing"
|> her to carry it.  I would be "assisting" her, if I offered to
|> carry the bag for her.

Ah, but if the FSF provides a substantial portion of the code for your
software project, they are doing substantially more for you than
just refraining from knocking you over; they are providing work
that might require you several programmer-years to duplicate, even
if their role would be somewhat passive.  This is "assistance", not
merely "allowing".

-- 
Joe Buck	jbuck@ohm.berkeley.edu