[Fsf-india] DEBATE: Why Linux... why GNU/Linux

[Raghavendra Bhat]

Frederick Noronha posts :

> See the views of Atul Chtinis and RMS below... 

You cannot compare  a rotten lemon with a crunchy  apple !  Atul Chitnis
is  an ordinary  hack like  anyone of  us whereas  RMS is  a charismatic
hacker  figure-head who  has sacrificed  his life  to the  betterment of
Society.

Atul Chitnis: A person who has no original work to his credit other than
bringing us, first  RedHat Linux and later PCQuest  Linux via a magazine
called  PC  Quest.  (This  was  brought  out at  a  time  when  our  Net
connectivity was  very poor.)   He has made  no great sacrifice  by this
other  than promoting  his consultancy  firm called  Exocore Consulting,
thereby enriching  himself.  He  alongwith PC Quest  have shown  us that
there is a good business model in selling GNU/Linux CDS and that one can
make good money by providing services using *free* software. 

RMS: A person  with an original idea in that he  started the GNU Project
at  a time  when everyone  was beholden  to the  *proprietary*  model of
software development.  It  was RMS who all these  years has been telling
us  the  values   of  ethical  computing  and  of   a  software  sharing
community. Again  you see RMS  pleading that scientific  development can
move  forward only  if we  share and  re-use resources,  build  upon the
shoulders  of  the   giants  before  us.  Above  all   it  was  RMS  who
single-handedly drafted the  GNU GPL for the protection  of the software
developer/consumer.   RMS has  inducted a  value based  approach  to the
development and deployment of software.

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