[Fsf-friends] Continuation....of Basics......

Anand Babu ab@gnu.org.in
Sat Sep 25 18:08:33 IST 2004


,----[ Ramanraj K <ramanraj@md4.vsnl.net.in> ]
| http://www.opensource.org/advocacy/case_for_hackers.php
| <quote>
| But the real reason for the re-labeling is a marketing one. We're
| trying to pitch our concept to the corporate world now. We have a
| winning product, but our positioning, in the past, has been
| awful. The term "free software" has been misunderstood by business
| persons, who mistake the desire to share with anti-commercialism
| or worse, theft.
| 
| Mainstream corporate CEOs and CTOs will never buy "free software."
| But if we take the very same tradition, the same people, and the
| same free-software licenses and change the label to "open source"
| that, experience has proven they will buy.  </quote>
| 
| All this is fine for businesses, but not appropriate at all places.
`----

After the Free Software community succeeded in achieving its mission
of a "Complete Free Operating System", the corporates feared running
out of proprietary patented software businesses. Their goal was to
make money, not Freedom. (Do you think IBM or Novell or RedHat cares
for Freedom?). They were not able to demonstrate a money making
business model out of Free Software to the VCs and hence the 
term Open Source (just another new name).

If you look at the old archives, you wont be surprised to find even
Larry Augustin using the term Free Software, because Free Software was
always Free Software, from the beginning.

It all started with Netscape and VA Linux.

Free Software community will succeed even without RedHat or Novell,
but the not the converse.

Forgetting or not giving the importance to the Free Software
Philosophy can one day lead to collapse of the movement.

,----[ Ramanraj K <ramanraj@md4.vsnl.net.in> ]
| > P.S. I still dont get your repeated requests for respect in every
| > mail. What do you want me to do exactly for you? :-S
| 
| Just avoid calling people "ignorant" etc. If you think yourself
| knowledgeable, please tell us why and how plainly and directly.
`----
For others who are not aware, Ramanraj is not only a Free Software
Hacker, but also a full time Lawyer. He understands enough about
licensing. 

-- 
Anand Babu
Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org>



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