www/philosophy lest-codeplex-perplex.html

[Matt Lee]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Matt Lee <mattl>        09/11/10 15:55:00

Added files:
        philosophy     : lest-codeplex-perplex.html 

Log message:
        added rms codeplex article

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/lest-codeplex-perplex.html?cvsroot=www&rev=1.1

Patches:
Index: lest-codeplex-perplex.html
===================================================================
RCS file: lest-codeplex-perplex.html
diff -N lest-codeplex-perplex.html
--- /dev/null   1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
+++ lest-codeplex-perplex.html  10 Nov 2009 15:54:52 -0000      1.1
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+
+<title>Lest CodePlex perplex - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation 
(FSF)</title>
+<link rel="canonical" 
href="http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/microsoft-codeplex-foundation"; />
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+   
+<h2>Lest CodePlex perplex</h2>
+
+<p>by <strong>Richard Stallman</strong></p>
+<p>Many in our community are suspicious of the CodePlex Foundation.  With
+its board of directors dominated by Microsoft employees and
+ex-employees, plus apologist Miguel de Icaza, there is plenty of
+reason to be wary of the organization.  But that doesn't prove its
+actions will be bad.</p>
+
+<p>Someday we will be able to judge the organization by its actions
+(including its public relations).  Today we can only try to anticipate
+what it will do, based on its statements and Microsoft's statements.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing we see is that the organization ducks the issue of
+users' freedom; it uses the term "open source" and does not speak of
+"free software". These two terms stand for different philosophies
+which are based on different values: free software's values are
+freedom and social solidarity, whereas open source cites only
+practical convenience values such as powerful, reliable software. See
+<a 
href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html";>http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html</a>
 for
+more explanation.</p>
+
+<p>Evidently Microsoft would rather confront the practical competition of
+open source than the free software movement's ethical criticism.  Its
+long standing practice of criticizing only "open source" does double
+duty: attacking one opponent while distracting attention from the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>CodePlex follows the same practice.  Its stated goal is to convince
+"commercial software companies" to contribute more to "open source".
+Since nearly all open source programs are also free software, these
+programs will probably be free, but the "open source" philosophy doesn't
+teach developers to defend their freedom. If they don't understand the
+importance of this freedom, developers may succumb to Microsoft's ploys
+encouraging them to use weaker licenses that are vulnerable to "embrace
+and extend" or patent co-optation, and to make free software dependent
+on proprietary platforms.</p>
+
+<p>This foundation is not the first Microsoft project to bear the name
+"CodePlex".  There is also codeplex.com, a project hosting site, whose
+list of allowed licenses excludes GNU GPL version 3.  Perhaps this
+reflects the fact that GPL version 3 is designed to protect a
+program's free software status from being subverted by Microsoft's
+patents through deals like the Novell-Microsoft pact.  We don't know
+that the CodePlex Foundation will try to discourage GPL version 3, but
+it would fit Microsoft's pattern.</p>
+
+<p>The term "commercial software companies" embodies a peculiar
+confusion. Every business is by definition commercial, so all software
+developed by a business&mdash;whether free or proprietary&mdash;is 
automatically
+commercial software. But there is a widespread public confusion
+between "commercial software" and "proprietary software". (See
+<a 
href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html";>http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html</a>.)</p>
+
+<p>This confusion is a serious problem because it falsely claims free
+software business to be impossible.  Many software companies already
+contribute to free software, and these commercial contributions are
+quite useful.  Perhaps Microsoft would like people to assume these
+facts are impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Based on these facts, we can see that CodePlex will encourage
+developers not to think about freedom.  It will subtly spread the idea
+that free software business is impossible without the support of a
+proprietary software company like Microsoft.  However, it may convince
+some proprietary software companies to release additional free
+software.  Will that be a contribution to computer users' freedom?</p>
+
+<p>It will be, if the software thus contributed works well on free
+platforms, in free environments.  But that is just the opposite of
+what Microsoft has said it seeks to achieve.</p>
+
+<p>Sam Ramji, now president of CodePlex, said a few months ago that
+Microsoft (then his employer) wanted to promote development of free
+applications that encourage use of Microsoft Windows
+(<a 
href="http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3811941";>http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3811941</a>).
+
+</div>
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+
+<div id="footer">
+<p>
+Please send FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to 
+<a href="mailto:address@hidden";>&lt;address@hidden&gt;</a>.
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 
+the FSF.
+<br />
+Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to
+<a href="mailto:address@hidden";>&lt;address@hidden&gt;</a>.
+</p>
+
+<p>Copyright &copy; 2009 Richard Stallman
+<br />
+Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted
+in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2009/11/10 15:54:52 $
+<!-- timestamp end -->
+</p>
+</div>
+<!-- All pages on the GNU web server should have the section about    -->
+<!-- verbatim copying.  Please do NOT remove this without talking     -->
+<!-- with the webmasters first. --> 
+<!-- Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the document -->
+<!-- and that it is like this "2001, 2002" not this "2001-2002." -->
+<div id="translations">
+<h4>Translations of this page</h4>
+</div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>