[DotGNU]Re: Open Content Network: Free Software P2P

[Daniel Carrera]

> > You can make a case that music, like software, should be free.
>
> Not exactly ... because taking a song and adding a feature or fixing
> a bug sounds silly for Music... And what would you call "source" for
> some Music ..... You might compare the music notes on a paper to
> Software source... Mp3s are not !.... So how can they be "free" in
> the analogy to "software freedom" ?
>
> And to stress that point .... we never said anything about "Music
> being Free"...


I was merely aknowledging that the view existed.  I was not claiming that
position for myself.  Indeed, I intended to claim that even if you held
that more extreme view, piracy was still bad.


A further point against software piracy is that it refusing to "lend a
copy of XXX" to your friend because it's propietary, will help your friend
realize the true cost of XXX.

What is the better thing to do for your fellow man?  Is it to assist in
their fooling themselves into thinking that propietary software does not
come with strings attached?  Certainly not.

If you refuse to give them a copy of a propietary software you bring home
the point that you don't have the freedom to do that.


If you want to do something even better for your fellow man, you can show
him that not all software comes with strings attached.  You can try to
offer them truly Free alternatives that meet his needs.

It also makes it easier if you don't *have* any propietary software to
give in the first place.  That way you don't look like the bad guy.

You can say :

"I can't give you Word because I don't even have it.  It is not Free
Software, you are not allowed to make copies.  I use Abiword instead.
Let me show you...".


If you don't have time to explain the "Free" part, you can just say that
you're free to make copies.  This is what I did in the example above.
Somene just asked you for a copy of Word and you have a few sentences to
reply.  The above brings in the concept of freedom succintly, without
going on a tangent (a tangent would diminish the weight of the message).


Daniel.