Linux World domination (was Re: [NCLUG] PC for Linux (Ubuntu))

Chad Perrin perrin at apotheon.com
Fri Sep 19 12:51:33 MDT 2008


On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 12:22:16AM -0600, Sean Reifschneider wrote:
> 
> So, the question then comes down to whether open source or freed software
> will really cause people to not have jobs.  Similarly to Paul, I feel
> there's strong evidence that this is not the case, as I pay the bills
> because of open source and freed software.  I don't see any evidence that
> the GPL contributes to people not being able to get jobs writing software.

I agree, in general, with your entire email to the list, Sean.  I have
just two comments, both of which are related to the above quoted
paragraph:

  1. I like that use of the word "freed".  I think it's much better to
  use the term "freed software" for purposes of getting the point across,
  as well as minimizing typing, than to use the term "free software" and
  sometimes having to expand upon that to explain what one means by
  "free" in this context.

  2. I'm surprised at the way this discussion has, in several branchings
  from the main trunk, gone from referring to Free/Libre/Open Source
  software to specifically talking about the GPL.  I probably shouldn't
  be, since it seems like 98% of the open source world normally doesn't
  consider that there are open source licenses other than the GPL (or
  open source OSes other than those based on the Linux kernel and GNU
  toolset), but for some reason it always surprises me that people who
  have so much experience with others essentially being unwilling to
  admit the existence of OSes other than MS Windows would then suffer the
  same selective blindness with regards to open source software.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ content licensed PDL: http://pdl.apotheon.org ]
Marvin Minsky: ". . . anyone could learn Lisp in 1 day, except that if
they already knew Fortran, it would take 3 days."
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