=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Re:_[Fsfe-ie]_Cumann_Sc=F3p-R=EDomhoideas nahEireann=3F?=

[Niall Douglas]

On 2 Nov 2003 at 12:12, David Golden wrote:

> I did NOT intend to leave wiggle room to introduce nonfree stuff or
> anti-gpl wackiness.  I will be charitable and assume by "solving his
> problems" Niall meant that it removed ambiguity he perceived to be
> introduced by common usage of "Free" and "open", not that it left such
> wiggle room...

You are correct, I don't like people deliberately phrasing things in 
a deceptive fashion. As you know David, I hold there is morality in 
everything and especially engineering, being such a force for good 
that it is, should naturally attain for a high standard of morals. 
It's not the free software movement's fault, but "free" in English 
means "free of cost" first and "free of restriction" second - and 
*that* in my opinion means that "free software" is a misleading name.

> IMHO the best English translation is still "Irish Free Software
> Organisation", and if "Free" is perceived ambiguous by some party,
> that's not so bad anyway, since it means one can explain the FSF
> philosophy when they ask for clarification...

If we were all in Spain right now, I'd be 100% happy with 
"Organisation Software Libre Irlandes" because that says what it 
really is.

I know that what I'm saying is being pedantic, but you must all 
remember that we live within a clique where the term "free software" 
has a meaning not equivalent to that perceived by the wider public - 
ie; most computer users and managers of business. Therefore to choose 
this term to name a lobby organisation acting in such arenas is to 
practice the same form of dishonesty as I have outlined above.

Now OTOH, if it's a stated goal that this organisation shall as a 
primary purpose be lobbying business to move to free software, you do 
want to keep that name as a PR mechanism. I however will then have 
nothing to do with it personally, though I'll continue barracking 
from the sidelines :)

Cheers,
Niall




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