Re: Release plans

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi, Richard!

On Mon, Aug 04, 2008 at 11:33:34AM -0400, Richard M. Stallman wrote:
>     To be honest, I wouldn't do that either if somebody suggested it to
>     me.  But if you did try this, you might then be a bit more
>     sympathetic to those who percieve that type of software to be
>     modern, efficient, and OK.

> I sympathize fully with appreciation of convenient software.  What I
> refuse to sympathize with is the failure to appreciate freedom even
> more.
 
Lots of people can't appreciate freedom because they don't understand it.
To a large extent, they're people who've never suffered constraint, or
haven't noticed it.  A mob of such people is dangerous indeed.
Education, sympathetic or not, is the best thing here.


>     I see my task, miniscule though my personal contribution might be,
>     to be to make freedom convenient.  Several of my colleagues over
>     the years have told me they don't care about software freedom, they
>     want the tools which get their job done best.  You can't argue with
>     that,

> Yes we can.  We have done so for 25 years and we will continue to do
> so.

OK, let's not quibble about semantic niceties.  There are people who will
stick to what's convenient, what "the law" tells them.  The only way to
persuade such people is to show them something convenient or legal.

>     it's consistent and honest.

> It is foolish and dangerous.

It's all four of these things.

>            I think free software should cater to them, too.

> We cater to them to the extent it doesn't interfere with more important
> goals, such as establishing a free society.

Sometimes I think you'd force freedom upon people.  ;-)

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).