From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu From: "Thomas Bushnell, BSG" Message-ID: <878zdhvzbt.fsf@becket.becket.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii References: <20011108124931.AAB4119A08@mail.cse.psu.edu> Subject: Re: [9fans] Rant (was Re: Plan9 and Ada95?) Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 10:09:06 +0000 Topicbox-Message-UUID: 1c12f96e-eaca-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025 rob@plan9.bell-labs.com (rob pike) writes: > > But it's not free software... > > Yes it is. It really is. When I see people say this, which I do from time > to time, it makes me sad for many reasons. The parallel with religions, > with the Catholic schism, with the fissiparous history of the Protestant > church, is so obvious it's almost embarrassing to point out. But I must. > > The `free' software people have won, but they're so intent on having > everyone agree with their fundamentalist and faith-based definition > of `free' that they label many of their allies as enemies. It's painful to > watch. It hurts. The people that are committed to free software are committed to software that comes with liberties and rights. I'll gladly pay for a copy of something as nice as Plan 9. But I won't sacrifice my freedoms for it. And the people who might work on Plan 9 but don't, because they are committed to free software, are committed to the libre definition, not the gratis one. Stamping your foot and saying it isn't fair won't change that.