Richard Stallman writes: > Hmmm.... And yet you used AIX, SunOS, and HP-UX to develop the GNU > Project in the first place. Seems to me that you have lost your > virginity. > > By using the word "virginity" you introduce an assumption that "doing > it fifty times is no worse than doing it once". That is not the way I > look at ethical or political issues. I mean to make the point that you are not opposed, in principle, to using non-free software when it advances the goals of the free software movement. > You compromised once, to good effect. Why not do it > again? > > It was justified by very special circumstances which do not arise very > often. And people are trying to tell you that circumstances which justify compromise exist today. > The context is also very different now. Now our community has > many people who say that using non-free software is perfectly ok > whenever that is convenient. Richard, you are careful to correct people when they say that you are in the open source movement. Well, the people you claim to be in "our community' are not a part of the free software movement. If they were, then they would reject the use of non-free software just as you do. They are instead, members of the open source community. -- -russ nelson http://russnelson.com | Crypto without a threat Crynwr sells support for free software | PGPok | model is like cookies 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | without milk. Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX |