MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-02-15 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [fairuse] Re: [hangout] Re: eGovOS conference in D.C.
|
On Sat, Feb 15, 2003 at 02:11:17PM -0500, Richard Stallman wrote:
> I would argue that a sound economic foundation for Free Software
> is the most important thing to society at this junction.
>
> Arrangements that lead to more funding for free software development
> would be good, of course, all else being equal.
It' not just funding of Free Software development, it's a fund of the users,
administrators, and the marketers of Free Software.
> But I am not
> convinced that free software needs any specific thing that one would
> call an economic foundation, because I don't think that the greatest
> limiting factor today for the further development of free software is
> a matter of funding.
There has to be a foundation of economic development because otherwise
people can't eat. Eating is good. Not eating is very bad.
> The greatest limiting factor as I see it is
> obstruction from outsiders, which takes forms such as secret hardware
> interfaces, software patents, the DMCA, and treacherous computing.
>
This very real threat will not be managable until more people have an
economic stake in the software. The strictly political issues are too
abstract for a world in which everyone is struggling day to day to remain
housed and clothed.
Not everyone has your celebraty and can ignor the economic impact of their
decision making. People need to eat. And as free people, they will make
decisions based on bread basket issues every time. You can not seperate
economics from politicals. The two things are the same, different faces of
the same coin.
The DMCA dies the minute it obstructs the economy of an important and large
segement of individuals with a vote.
Ruben
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