Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Thu 16th Jun 2005 08:54 UTC
The Mac platform was always considered a premium platform, hence much of its software is shareware or commercial. In the recent days more freeware applications have emerged, but the majority are small utilities and not full scale applications. Enter the world of GNU which can not only provide "free" applications as in beer, but most importantly, "Free", as in Freedom.
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Eugenia,
...
Thank you for making me laugh. 'Linux weenies' is simply wonderful. Weenies tend to be to damned pedantic and the negative reaction you got here amply illustrates such pedantism. But then again I have been reading your posts for the last 2 1/2 years- so I couldn't be bothered to get worked up about your choice of phrasing.
At the risk of more clearly obfuscating the issues around
The GPL and GPL software is *not* free. 'free' in the sense of a free ride, or being a freeloader, the feeling of getting away with something, or 'stealin' something, and most certainly not in the sense of being worthless or something one can simply take for granted. The GPL and GPL software is *not* a 'free handout', it not something synonomous with cheap and is not particularly 'free' in the sense of being air-headed, giddy and 'carefree' and unfortunately it is often not 'trouble-free'.
Additionally such software is also not fat-free, sodium-free or cholestoral-free- GPL software belongs to a healthy spiritual diet.
The GPL and GPL software is also not 'free' in the sense of laissez-faire, or in the sense of anything-goes, or in the sense of Vogel-frei. The principal behind the GPL is not something for nothing, it is not a cheap-shot and it is not cheap in the moral sense(ie. loose, easy etc.).
How big is the difference between priceless and worthless ? Can this difference be measured in terms of money ? For it is the distinction between priceless and worthless which grounds the principals of the GPL.
It is said that everything has it's price and everything and everyone can be bought. The GPL disproves such a notion and in so doing contributes to the self-worth of all of those involved in developing and using GPL software.
Some people are dumb enough to believe that the definitions found in dictionaries define how people use the words they use. Then they get in arguments about how talking Free Software is some perversive move to undermine the *real* meaning of free. The word 'free' is one of the most abused and misused and meaningless words which exist in the modern world if for no other reason than all of the references to things like 'free lunch'. This is why I prefer to use the word 'Free'-the perjorative and other negative uses of the word 'free' magically evaporare with this tiny orthographical change. In fact I could not even take offense at the use of the word freeware in reference to the GPL or GPL'ed software because there is only one point of common meaning between 'free', as used in freeware, and Free Software-being free of charge, and GPL'ed software is *not* necessarily 'free' in that sense.