On Sunday 21 October 2007 15:33:09 Mike Miller wrote: > Well, not the whole world but at least it is the "L" in TCLUG. I notice > that your email address is at TCBUG - no "L"! > > I like all unixy things but am working toward doing all my work on Linux > (still use Solaris some due to force of habit) because it seems to be the > most likely to succeed for the next decade or so. I also prefer the GPL > to the BSD license because the GPL is more self-promotional. > > Mike Ah, licenses...substitute self-promotional with viral and we're probably at agreement anyways. It's interesting that for ~15 years the FSF has been telling me what 'Free' is, and their definition has essentially been GPL compatable. Specifically the GPLv2...many licenses have come and gone in those years, only those which have been GPLv2 compatable have been declared free by the FSF....until now. The FSF has recently released the GPLv3 which is *not* GPLv2 compatable, but somehow it is the new definition of free....it also carries with it more restrictions, which melts my brain. I am more free because of more restrictions. The FSF would also have you believe that commercial software is bad or wrong somehow....another position I really have a hard time with. I am all about choice. To me freedom is best given to me when I have freedom to choose. Give me the freedom to choose between an open source and a closed source solution, or a solution that I can have and use for free versus one that I have to pay for. The FSF (and their virus they call a license) attempts to limit my freedom to choose, and if they had their way they'd take away my freedom to choose commercial software completely. I've been using open source solutions both professionally and recreationally for well over 15 years now. 99.9% of the commercial code I write at work goes out the door with a BSD license on it, and the people buying it gladly pay 6 figures for our product. (In case you are wondering the remaining .1% goes out GPL'd because of virus infestations, but we're working on eliminating that little pest) What's scary to me is how much mindshare the FSF has captured, and how readily an entire generation has bought in to their song and dance. I sometimes sit back and wonder how it all happened....was it IBM's billion dollar marketing scheme for linux? How did you hear of linux...and how long did it take you to buy in to the FSF afterwards? And what were your influences? At the end of this email I reread your reply....my first take was that you thought solaris was most likely to succeed for the next decade or so, which I totally agree with...upon rereading it I got the impression maybe you thought linux was the most likely to succeed in the next decade or so....just curious, but which one of my readings is correct? -- Thanks, Josh Paetzel -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 189 bytes Desc: This is a digitally signed message part. Url : http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20071021/880c8531/attachment.pgp