Terminology (was: Please review our new charter)

[MJ Ray]

"jamesmikedupont at googlemail.com" <jamesmikedupont at googlemail.com> wrote:
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/09/15/rms_why_open_source_needs/ [...]
> The open source movement was founded in 1998 by people who wanted to
> talk about our system without mentioning the political ideals that
> motivated us to develop it. [...]

Much respect for Stallman, but I don't think that's accurate.  He
wasn't at the founding meeting (which was a bug), the initial
statement http://www.catb.org/~esr/open-source.html doesn't reflect
that and I don't think anyone can seriously think ESR is scared of
politics.  Maybe the open source movement was promoted, encouraged
(co-opted?) by people who wanted to avoid mentioning the political
ideals, but I don't think it was founded by them.

Anyway, if one wants to promote free software, speak about free
software.  Don't obsess about what open source is doing.  Play the
ball, not the other player.

Regards,
-- 
MJ Ray (slef)
Webmaster for hire, statistician and online shop builder for a small
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