Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on January 06, 2004 03:51 AM
Stallman started the free software community for reasons he thought were good, indeed compelling. part of what he's spent the years since on has been formulating arguments for his reasons and his doings, and he's arrived at arguments he feels are good and convincing. he's not trying to say we should all step in line with his reasons just because they're his; he's trying to present those arguments and explain his reasons, because he feels his explanations are good enough to be convincing. he may or may not be doing a good job of communication and evangelising in this attempt, but he's definitely not asking us to agree with him "just because".
oh, and he would indeed be most upset at your conflating free software with open source. *you* may think they're effectively equivalent, but *he* has an argument - which he feels is good and convincing - for just how and why the difference matters. he doesn't try to tell the open source community what to value and what not to; but he *does* try to argue for why the _free software_ community should put greater value on some things than on others, and for why we should join them in so doing.
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Re:Open Source and Broader Community
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on January 06, 2004 03:51 AMoh, and he would indeed be most upset at your conflating free software with open source. *you* may think they're effectively equivalent, but *he* has an argument - which he feels is good and convincing - for just how and why the difference matters. he doesn't try to tell the open source community what to value and what not to; but he *does* try to argue for why the _free software_ community should put greater value on some things than on others, and for why we should join them in so doing.
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