Public Domain Python

Steve Holden sholden at holdenweb.com
Wed Sep 13 11:07:10 EDT 2000


Grant Griffin wrote:
> 
[snip]
> 
> I dunno...haven't you read Eric S. Raymond's piece about the "Gift
> Economy" of free/open software?  His thesis is basically that one gains
> status in the Gift Economy by giving away ones work, much as one gains
> status in a conventional economy by accumulating wealth; therefore, to
> carve someone's name of off some piece of software they have written is
> to commit the gravest possible sin.
> 
However, nobody has yet explained to me how we are going to reach the
anarchistic/socialistic Utopia where we can manage to live while donating
all our software to the world.  Which is a pity, since despite my age I
am still enough of an idealist to liek the idea of surviving while doing
what I enjoy most without external constraints.

> which-is-why-richard-stallman-insists-we-call-'linux'
>    -'the-gnu/linux-system'-<<fat chance>>-ly y'rs,
> 
Well, he can insist all he likes.  Stallman is to be admired for many
things, including his long-term promotion if the free software ideal
which has indirectly led to a hiuge amount of open-source software
becoming (pretty) freely available.  I suspect he's being unrealistic
in that insistence.

At the same time, I think most people involved with Linux are aware
that Stallman's (and the FSF's) contributions have been large.

regards
 Steve

> =g2
> --
> _____________________________________________________________________
> 
> Grant R. Griffin                                       g2 at dspguru.com
> Publisher of dspGuru                           http://www.dspguru.com
> Iowegian International Corporation            http://www.iowegian.com

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