Re: A reminder about the facts

> a non-free program, even if legally permitted, does not advance our
> mission.

    For my personal taste that's a bit too religious...

This has nothing to do with how the universe was created or what
happens to people when they die. It has to do with how people
should treat each other--with politics and ethics.

Of course, you know that. When you use the word "religious", you're
saying that the matter is unimportant and that positions on it are not
based on reason.

I think this present situation is a powerful rational argument showing
the importance of the freedom to make modified releases. It makes all
the difference here.

As an individual, deciding what to install on your own computer, you
don't need to draw a clear line about what you'll accept. You don't
need to draw a line at all. Each time you consider installing some
program, you can do whatever you feel like. In other words, you can
treat the question as if it were "religious".

But a project to develop an operating system for general use needs to
draw a clear line and stick to it. For the GNU project, this line is
that we only use free software.
Received on Mon Jun 02 1997 - 21:49:41 EDT