[Dee-Ann LeBlanc mused recently here at LinuxWorld.com on the vexed question
of whether in the Linux community we are letting politics have too much sway
over and above the technology. Here are Richard Stallman's thoughts on that
same issue, just received...far from sharing this worry, on the contrary he
is concerned that a narrow focus on technological developments "might
distract our best activists from doing their best work..." ]
"Dear editors of LinuxWorld,
When I read Ms LeBlanc's surprised reaction to the idea that "Linux" is about
politics - initially negative, followed by an acknowledgment that it may have
become so - I was struck above all by the irony. This operating system was
launched to be about politics, starting with its announcement 20 years ago
this mon... (more)
While we have never released a complete GNU system suitable for production
use, a variant of the GNU system is now used by tens of millions of people
who mostly are not aware it is such. Free software does not mean "gratis"; it
means that users are free to run the program, study the source code, change
it, and redistribute it either with or without changes, either gratis or for
a fee.
M... (more)
Headnote
As of December 2006, Sun is in the middle of rereleasing its Java platform
under the GNU GPL. When this license change is completed, we expect that Java
will no longer be a trap. Nonetheless, the general issue described here will
remain important, because any non-free library or programming platform can
cause a similar problem. We must learn a lesson from the history of Java, so ... (more)
Richard Stallman writes: Maureen O'Gara's review in Linux Business Week of
Larry Rosen's book misrepresents the Free Software Foundation's views, when
it says we criticized Rosen for "recognizing...licenses other than the GPL".
Recognizing other licenses as legitimate is entirely correct, and we have
always recognized many other bona-fide free software licenses. See the Free
Software Defin... (more)
Last July 6, the free-software community and programmers everywhere awaited a
showdown in the European parliament over software patents. The outcome was
far from predictable.
If we, the free-software proponents, had lost, it would have been a final
defeat in Europe. The relevant part of the European commission works hand in
glove with the Business Software Alliance (BSA), and a BSA lawyer ... (more)