🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <eZ9FgB20w164w@mantis.co.uk>, mathew@mantis.co.uk (From A to B) writes:

> There are always going to be people who don't do things the way you think
> they should be done.  There are several ways you can deal with this:
> 1. Try to pass laws to make them do things your way.
> 2. Let them do things their way, but don't give them any assistance.
> 3. Tolerate opinions which differ to your own.  Give people the freedom
>    to make their own decisions, and rely on persuasion to entice them or 
>    educate them into doing things your way.

> The FSF approach is #1.

The GPL is not a law.  It is a license that is enforced by a law, but
that is an entirely different matter.  It it letting other people do
things their way, but refusing to assist them if their way of doing
things conflicts too much with your way of doing things.  Looks like
#2 to me, combined with a fair amount of attempted persuasion a la #3.

> What I'm suggesting above is #2. If I'd been more ambitious, I would 
> have advocated #3.

I'm not sure what "above" is - the only things that look like they
could be relevant are contained in articles that have expired here -
but your "TFSF" sounds a lot more like #3 to me than #2, or at least
it would be if your goal is to promote free software.  (I'm not sure
what your goal is, and won't speculate.)  You would certainly be
giving assistance to people who wish to get rid of competing free
software if you gave them software for them to sell, after all.

Think, Mathew, think.

david carlton
carlton@husc.harvard.edu

       I hope I bought the right relish...  zzzzzzzzz...