Re: Please don't refer to Emacs as "open source"

[Jambunathan K]

David Kastrup <address@hidden> writes:

> "Stephen J. Turnbull" <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> David Kastrup writes:
>>
>>  > Why win their hearts with false pretense?  One won't be able to keep
>>  > them that way.
>>
>> You're the one talking about false pretenses.  "Presentation" does not
>> mean lying or hiding one's true intent.  It means talking about your
>> ideas in terms that others understand.
>
> Creating free software sucks as a business model because access to it is
> by its nature not constrainable.  Any non-trivial companies working in
> that area are working as

Lately we see more and more companies talking of "Corporate Social
Responsibility" and pride themselves in supporting and making a positive
impact on "Local Communities".

In case of Democracies, the behaviours that does not fall strictly
within ambit of law has to be "regulated" by advocacy and (vehement)
public opinion.

Often times similar companies align themselves into "Chambers of
Commerce" to protect their own interests and often have written code of
ethics to which a member constituent has to strictly adhere to.

I would make a reasonable assumption that a company producing a "Open
Source" component is very likely to depend on other "Open Source"
components during it's production process.

Putting all the above different items together:

FLOSS companies has to be pressured in to act in ways that nurture the
ecosystem and prevented from acting in ways that is harmful to the
ecosystem. The companies have to adopt an ethical standard where part of
their funds for CSR program is used to fund their FLOSS peers..

A common user has to be educated so that he can exert his pressure in
the right direction. Campaigns for boycott comes to my mind here.

The citizens can also lobby with the governments and insist on their
governments allocating budgetary funds to FLOSS projects that the
governments have to come rely on.

As I put my thoughts down, it is becoming increasing clear that an
education campaign and programs like boycott or making hostile takeovers
a tabeau would considerably strengthen the FLOSS ecosystem.

Just as with Liberty, the goal of FLOSS is not to improve the
"happiness" of a single or narrowed set of entities but to improve the
"sum total of happiness" of the entire ecosystem.

Jambunathan K.