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Stallman consistently ignores the free market when writing about software freedom. What users want, the free market will provide. If they want customizable so
by codex 13y ago
Stallman consistently ignores the free market when writing about software freedom. What users want, the free market will provide. If they want customizable software, the market will give it to them. If they only want feature X, the market will give it to them. If they want interop., they will get that too. If they don't care about modifying the source code, well, people won't offer it.
The GPL is not what allows users to get what they need from software or technology. It's the market. As long as you have a free market, with able competitors, you don't need the GPL, and the whole discussion of "free software" is a red-herring.
Stallman's initial experience with closed software was not in a free market, so I can see how he's grown up with a colored view.
- gaius 13y agoHe also got a million dollar grant from the McArthur Foundation, and another one from the Takeda Foundation, and doesn't really understand that most programmers operate in a very different economic reality than his bubble.
- davexunit 13y agoESR, is that you? All you did was repeat "free market" a bunch of times. Congratulations.
- buzaga41 13y agoBesides that, I'm pretty sure when the free market sent down that 10 commandments thing it said not to go around using it's name in vain
- codex 13y agoAllow me to continue, then. Stallman's original problem was essentially, "I had a broken car once and I couldn't get the part I needed to repair it. That sucked, so all manufacturers should provide everyone with all the information needed make any replacement part." In today's world that problem really doesn't exist anymore. Software is a mass market product, and the software that is produced already conforms to what people want pretty well. Sure, I'll take cheaper parts for my car, but on the list of humanity's problems, non-GPL software is very, very low.
- davexunit 13y agoYour ignorance is baffling. I won't continue to humor it.
- dman 13y agoWhen do you think the shift from a non-free to free market happened? What brought it about?
- codex 13y agoIt's a function of the size of the market. When Stallman was programming computers, the number of computers was quite small and it was much more expensive to create software. These days, especially after the PC revolution, creating and modifying software is much cheaper, especially relative to the demand for software, which is much higher.
- dman 13y agoDo you think the widespread availability of a free and high quality compiler had something to do with the PC revolution?
- Sanddancer 13y agoNo. The PC revolution was built on compilers like Borland's Turbo Pascal and Microsoft C. GCC was very much a latecomer to the PC revolution.
- smrtinsert 13y agoThe free market, what a great idea. Producing great things such as skyrocketing health care costs, the mortgage crisis and others...
- gress 13y agoThose problems are the result of heavy government restriction and bailouts - the exact opposite of a free market.