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Originally Posted by Kiba  Do you believe/like the ideas of the Free software movement? |
No. I don't agree with the Richard Stallman extremism. I'm a software developer myself, and I use a lot of LGPL (open source) libraries but I also use proprietary libraries. I use open source software, including Linux (which I absolutely love) but I also use proprietary software. I don't believe that all software must be open source and free. Both have their place. Steve said it well -- the licensing choice should be left to the developer.
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Originally Posted by Kiba I believe that softwares should be in the hand of the user, giving them the right to use it, modify it, and even distribute it(Even at any price they want, although wheather if it is practial is another matter). |
How does that make any sense? What incentive would someone have to write software if they effectively couldn't make money from selling it? The FSF ideology flies
completely in the face of capitalism (which in my opinion is the best economic system we'll ever have). People can choose to donate their time and fruits of their labor if they want to. But forcing it on everyone is absolutely wrong.
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Originally Posted by Kiba A lot of propriteary softwares only give you permission to use. |
The only beef I have with proprietary software is that usually the license allows you to install it on only one computer. If a user has five computers at home, is it fair to force them to buy five licenses? It makes sense when selling to businesses but not home users. This includes the Windows operating system (Mac OS X can be bought as a "family pack" which allows it to be installed on up to five computers).
And by the way, despite being a software developer I never once had the urge to modify
any open source software I use. Not even the development libraries I'm using. It's simply not worth my time. If something doesn't do what I need it to do, I go and find something that does. And I'll buy it if necessary. The assumption that people actually want to spend time modifying the software that they use is very flawed.
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Originally Posted by Kiba Btw, the forum Steve Pavlina is running is proprietary software. I hope that someday, it will change. |
That's just silly. Why would he use an open source forum if a proprietary forum works better? There's a lot of proprietary software that's MUCH better and more powerful than open source alternatives. The idea that open source software is always better than proprietary software is a myth that's perpetuated by the FSF.