Free Software and why we avoid it

Ottavio Caruso pr0f3ss0r1492 at yahoo.com
Mon Aug 14 12:09:56 UTC 2006


Uk magazine PcPro n.143 recently published an article
about "Free Software", the one that usually gives on
your nerves if you are a frequent user of this mailing
list. My letter to the magazine is also a poor man's
summary of the article:


> Dear Sirs,
> 
> your recent article "Free Software and why we avoid
> it", PcPro 143, annoys me a bit.
> 
> It's not about whether I agree with it or not; itÂ’s
> about the way you present information.
> 
> Firstly, you confuse your readers by putting 'Free
> Software' (Linux, the Gimp, Firefox, Apache),
> 'freeware' (Ad-Aware, AVG, WinZip Zone Alarm) and
> even the infamous Nigerian 419 scam on the same 
> plate.
> Why not involve the paedophiles and Al-Qaeda, while
> you're there?
> 
> Then you define Richard Stallman as "Linux
> co-creator", "Microsoft-hating" and "near
> Communist".
> I'll leave that to anyone with access to a search
> engine to determine if it's true or not (by the way,
> what does 'near Communist' mean? Coming from a
> country where the Communist Party had 30% of the 
> votes, you are either Communist or not).
> 
> Further on it is stated that the OSI (Open Source
> Initiative) was merely an 'image makeover'
> (disputable but legitimate opinion) and you even 
> compare it to Tony Blair's New Labour. Now, only
> readers from outside the UK would not realize how 
> offensive this statement could be (incidentally, in
> doing that, you could have regained the sympathy of
> Mr Stallman, who is probably more "OSI hater" 
> than "MS hater").
> 
> In short, given the technical calibre of your
> magazine, I think this is an example of
> disinformation.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Ottavio Caruso

Ottavio Caruso
--

No individual replies, please!

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