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- - gpg control packet Ottavio Caruso wrote:
From: "Alfred M. Szmidt" ams@gnu.org
Freedom and practicality don't go hand in hand.
This statement suggests that freedom and practicality are somehow mutually exclusive. The existing evidence in our field does not support this assertion.
The GNU GPL is a practical license. It uses copyright to ensure freedom.
The Free Software Foundation is a practical collective. It uses a combination of paid staff and volunteers to promote the idea of Free Software.
FOSS projects are frequently practical. Teams coordinate and deliver high quality technology to users. This technology include mission-critical software like the Linux kernel.
There is absolutely no reason freedom and practically cannot go hand in hand. They already do.
But some companies or individuals (I, for example) would want to be "certified" (cum grano salis) against the GBN guidelines. Branding is important in business, be it Microsoft certified or Cisco certified or GNU certified.
Exactly.
The reason I suggest that the provisions of the GNU Business Network Definition pertaining to support contracts are potentially unreasonable is that branding and certification are key when it comes to business confidence. If the GNU Business Network Definition alienates established integration and support providers it will not be adopted by them. The lack of wide-spread adoption will undermine the use of the certification and thereby reduce it's positive impact on businesses.
IMHO the GNU Business Network Definition should be compatible with as many existing integration and support vendors are possible to ensure adoption. Naturally the GNU Business Network Definition should encourage Free Software excellence, but the base principle should be to encourage the use and support of Free Software in business environments. Exclusivity of use and support should perhaps be secondary.
Shane
- -- Shane Martin Coughlan e: shane@opendawn.com m: +447773180107 (UK) +353862262570 (Ire) w: www.opendawn.com - --- OpenPGP: http://www.opendawn.com/shane/publickey.asc