[plug] [link] lwn letter - amazing....

[The Thought Assassin]

On Thu, 8 Aug 2002, Peter Wright wrote:
> On 08/08 14:03:48, The Thought Assassin wrote:
> > The Open Source "What can I get for free?" ethos
> You should probably try to avoid misleading (well, that may be a tad too
> diplomatic - perhaps "wrong" is more accurate) characterisations of
> alternative viewpoints

You're right - I should have been much more specific here, as it is, it
sounds like an offhanded put-down.

The main characteristic of Open Source as opposed to Free Software is that
of trying to sell the idea to software producers by saying "you get free
testing, support, maintenance, mindshare etc" and to consumers as "you get
free code, support, choice of maintainence/support etc" as opposed to
selling the idea to info-citizens in general along the lines of "trying to
prevent the spread of information is counterproductive and ethically
questionable - find another way to finance its creation".

The way I put it above sounds like the Open Source proponents are the ones
seeking the free stuff, which is not what I meant at all. Sorry.

-Greg