[Fsf-india] Four more questions...

[Gopal.V]

The over-emphasis on "Free Beer" is good for the popularity, but is a
sort of a professional Hara-Kiri for the development effort. Please don't
kill the development effort in your efforts to promote it. 

If memory serves me right, Frederick Noronha wrote:
>    1) How do you "use software for any purpose possible" if
...............
>    at the same time we fight shy of pointing out that 
>    here's a very, very affordable software option for the millions....

It's not as if we're fighting shy of this idea -- it's just that
most people stop at "Free Beer" and never even mention the "Free Speech".

>    Or, are we talking only of the freedom of the techie here?
>    If so, aren't we guilty of leaving 99% in the cold? 

If I could make Windows less crashprone , will the 99 % be left in 
the cold or will they benifit ?. But I can't and nobody wins.

But if I make a FS program better (due to the freedom provided to me),
I don't think that leaves anybody in the cold (except perhaps me , who 
doesn't get anything out of the "Free Beer" work).

Without the freedom to modify and *REDISTRIBUTE* , I think the non-techies
are the people who'll suffer -- is this freedom useful or what ?.

>    3) How does one "help your neighbour" if money remains the
>    primarily motivating factor? If money is *not* the main 
>    factor, then why not be upfront about that?

Even if you pay for a copy of your software , you can always give a copy
to a neighbour and still have a copy left (PUN intended). It's still about
Money -- but "Free" as in "Freedom" allows you to do this without making 
you a pirate and a criminal.

The point is ,Microsoft and other proprietary guys also have such "Gratis
Redistributables" ie "Free Beer" -- I won't want people to place us both 
in one shelf.

> >    4) Community comes from sharing and giving freely. Freely as
>    in -- without strings attached. 

Actually GPL comes with a good tight string attatched which prevents
it from going closed . This is slack enough for any decent man,
but not for a exploitative company.

>    In the real world, this gets translated into money terms. 
>    Where do we situate FS in this context, specially in an 
>    Indian or Third World backdrop?

In monetary terms " giving is free , producing is not" -- IF you want
us to continue "producing" please helps us do it for "you and the rest
of the community". And in a real world HELP == MONEY.

I'll explain the indian situation as the answer to the next question.

> My feeling is that the 'free beer versus free speech' debate makes sense
> in a North American context. Where money/resources/food/beer is not so
> important an issue as 'freedom', since almost everyone has the former.
.......
> But, in an Indian context?

WRONG !. Tell me the name of a newbie computer user in India who has bought
a windows CD (not an OEM, bought !). In USA/Canada the laws are very 
strict on piration. For them the cost matters . Here it is just a visit
to the corner bootlegger with a blank CD and 25 bucks.

Money doesn't figure a lot in an Indian home pc buyers mind -- as he is 
using bootlegged sh*t anyway. He prefers "convenience" to anything else.

> To stretch the argument: at the end of the day 'free beer' is intricately
> related to 'free speech'. If you have the idea (the recipe for beer, in
> this case) and are willing to share it because you subscribe to the idea
> of 'free speech', one day I too could hope to get 'free beer' as a result
> of your belief in 'free speech'.  
...........
> 'Free beer' (a luxury in virtually any social context) 

Hmmm... makes me wish I could copy a mug of "Free Beer" and get two :)

We're talking about Information , which can be copied easily and without 
loss of quality or data.

(cp abc.ISO xyz.ISO && echo "done" ) 


> PPS: Needless to say, I admire RMS, his work and principles. All that I'm
> arguing here is that a construct that fits the US perfectly need not be
> the most apt in an Indian, Third World, economically-different society.

I admire RMS for his firm belief in the Freedom . His constructs on Freedom
fit anywhere -- it is the "free beer" part that doesn't fit in someplaces.

Eg In the Indian Home User market -- who get Windows preinstalled (OEM or 
Pirated), has no attractions towards a "difficult to use/install" OS
even though it is "Free" (beer). A pirated Windows looks the same to 
a layman -- Free Beer. He just doesn't get the legality involved .

As long as companies turn a blind eye towards Piration , "One CD Markets"
like India will not respond to the "Free Beer" attitude. 

Also the "Free Beer" propaganda has cost too many FS companies their 
income. The buyers are p*ssed off by the fact that " these guys advertise
themselves as *FREE* software people and then ask money ! ". 

Gopal.V
-- 
 The difference between insanity and genius is only measured by success
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