K5: 'Is Richard Stallman's Fight For "GNU/Linux" Suicide?'

[Stefan Meretz]

Sorry, Georg, but again:

"Georg C. F. Greve" wrote:
> As Bernhard has shown at the beginning of this thread, the FSF has
> always emphasized the compatibility of Free Software with
> commercialization.

Ok, Free Software is compatible. But my point is: What comes first? You
want to tell me, that commercialization and free software is identical?
My position is: freedom comes first, and I think, this _is_ the position
of FSF as I can read it on gnu.org.

> Richard Stallman himself has repeatedly told people
> to make as much money as they possibly can with Free Software because
> this will eventually lead to more Free Software.

Do you have a ref? I searched for that on gnu.org, but I can't find it.

I found this:
>>
Since free software is not a matter of price, a low price isn't more
free, or closer to free. So if you are redistributing copies of free
software, you might as well charge a substantial fee and <i>make some
money</i>. Redistributing free software is a good and legitimate
activity; if you do it, you might as well make a profit from it. 
<<
and 
>>
Strictly speaking, ``selling'' means trading goods for money. Selling a
copy of a free program is legitimate, and we encourage it.
<<

I understand: Free Software is not a matter of price, it is a matter of
freedom. And you can make some money. Sounds different to "make as much
money as they possibly can with Free Software".

And this:
>>
...so we can avoid appearing to share the widespread assumption that
money and business are the highest value in life.
<<

> Also it should be clear by now that being against commercialization is
> being against freedom in the sense of Free Software.

I completely disagree, but there is no need to fit our positions. If I
understand Werner Koch right: It is not a topic of FSF(E).

Ciao,
Stefan

-- 
  Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft / HBV
  HA II, Abteilung Datenverarbeitung
  Kanzlerstr. 8, 40472 Duesseldorf
--
  mailto:stefan.meretz at hbv.org
  maintaining: http://www.hbv.org
  see also: http://www.verdi-net.de
  private stuff: http://www.meretz.de
--