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

[Grant Johnson]

> That was disappointing.  I agreed with you whole-heartedly in that first
> sentence, then ran into a wall with your second.
>
> Without the code, you don't own *the code*.  This is not the same as not
> owning the *software*.  If you possess an executable binary free of legal
> entanglements, you own *the executable binary software*.  If you possess
> source code free of legal entanglements, you own *the source code*.
> These are *not* the same thing.
>
>   
If I buy something, I can use it as long as I wish, but, if I rent it, I 
can use it only as long as the actual owner says I can.   With software, 
it is like this.   Without the source, I can use it only as long as the 
vendor supports it.  Therefore, it is a lease.   It is a lease with only 
one payment, but a lease all the same.

If I cannot change it, I may not be able to run it on hardware currently 
available, or on OS's that are currently patched.