[Fsf-friends] [OFFTOPIC] Three views on Free/Libre and Open Source Software...

Suraj Kumar suraj@symonds.net
27 Nov 2002 16:47:40 +0530


On Wed, 2002-11-27 at 16:19, energon wrote:
> Anybody care to relate GPL software with the science of Ayurveda ?
> (since Ayurveda is non-proprietory, and doesn't have any side effects
> ;)
> errm...strings attached :)

A good example that one of my friends was giving was a comparison of
Free Software to Mathematics. 

Science wouldn't be where it is if a mathematician said, "I wont tell
you how the theorem works inside. I will just give you the proof". There
is no way we can extend the theorem to form postulates nor can we find
ways of seeing if the theorem is correct. 

Just what mathematics means to science, software (which is an
application of mathematics) means to engineering and technology (which
is an application of science). Imagine what would have happened to
science if mathematicians refused to expose their theorems. Imagine how
advanced technology would be if all software enabled engineers to extend
the software.

  -Suraj
-- 
+--------------------------------------------<suraj@symonds.net>---+
|Renunciation is freedom from undue desires; those                 |
|in the bond of longing desires cannot renounce                    |
|(curbing greed - 5), Thirukkural                                  |
+---<http://symonds.net/~suraj/>-----------------------------------+