[FSF India] Open $ource is as dangerous as M$ (if not more)

[Khuzaima A. Lakdawala]

Raju Mathur <raju@linux-delhi.org> writes:

> >>>>> "VA" == Vivekananda Prabhu <vivekbp@yahoo.com> writes:
> 
>     VA> The real issues here is *ethics*.
> 
>     VA> The so-called Open Source guys are here to make *money*
>     VA> period. Though open source definition looks deceptively
>     VA> similar to Free Software definition including half-hearted
>     VA> endorsement of GPL, the real issues are more deeper & subtle
>     VA> (for the casual reader)
> 
> I'm in it to make money.  Does that make me an outcast from the Free
> Software community?

It has been stressed repeatedly by many in the Free Software community
that "Free Software is not anti-business." Nobody is implying that you
can't be "in it to make money." However, you cannot compromise on the
basic principles of freedom, justify these compromises on the basis of
financial considerations, and still claim to be part of the
community. This is *precisely* what VA Linux just did, ESR's feeble
"clarifications" notwithstanding.

When money becomes the sole concern and making money becomes the *only*
goal, then no movement can succeed.

What the Free Software Movement needs from the business community are
ethical and morally upright business persons who can come up with
business models which can sustain themselves without compromising on
the basic principles of freedom.

-- 
Khuzaima A. Lakdawala