On Wed, Sep 05, 2001 at 11:22:25AM +1000, Darren Reed wrote:
> This is just my _own_ opinion and may be a load of horse shit.
> Darren

No. It isn't, IMHO. in fact, you and djb have helped me understand ad put into some
perspective the whole GNU vs. BSD vs. Proprietary debate.

RMS and the GNU people are fanatics. they seek to remove an individual's freedom
(namely, the person who wrote the software) for the sake of the group.
Tim O' Reilly has written some beautiful prose on this subject.

RMS gives open-source/free software a bad name.

and people forget the simple fact that the software IS good.
and that the authors go to great lengths, and personal expense, to do so.
AND they release the source-code.

The whole 1Click Amazon patent is a good exmaple of what could happen when an author
loses the right to decide the direction his/her code can take.

I wish people who stop trying to turn people away from this, by DEMANDING a particular
license from an author, or threatening group disassociation. I, for one, and very glad
Darren still participates, given all the SHIT thats been thrown his way due to his decision
on ipf. Please continue to do so sir. I, for one, am very thankful you do.

I can also understand the OpenBSD position on why not to include it in the distro.
That is also their right. These rights are NOT at odds. Each is a personal choice, and that
is what we really need to focus on.

what good is free software, if the author is enslaved? Is overall freedom enhanced by this?

in closing, I want to personally thank you Darren for yor contributions to helping me secure
my system installations.

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