worley@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Dale Worley) (12/05/88)
From: lawrence@compass.uucp (David Lawrence) Summary: GNU for Profit? A recent posting advertised the distribution of GNU software by a company named ISPI, located in New York. Although this is allowed for by the GNU General Public License, it seems inappropriate to me that a for-profit organization would avail itself of a "free good" (the net) to advertise their services. 1. A more particular objection can be made that much of the netnews "backbone" is on the Arpanet, and is thus forbidden to carry "commercial" traffic. Thus, in theory, these people shouldn't be posting here. (There is a system of "business" newsgroups that doesn't have this restriction.) 2. Of course, the same argument applies to any message noting that Gnu distribution tapes are available from FSF for $400! 3. In practice, it doesn't seem to me that there will be any trouble from the Feds, and that these people are providing a service that could easily cause a much wider dissemination of Gnu Emacs than now exists. If you've ever worked in a small shop, there's nothing more painful than knowing that there's lots of great, free software out there, but not available on a medium that you can read. We shouldn't dump on these people, because they are, in fact, advancing The Cause, even if that isn't *their* primary purpose. 4. I find it somewhat amusing that the net is considered a "free good". In no way is it free -- it's just that *we users* don't pay for it! Fortunately those wonderful people who pay for the computers and phone lines on which "the net" runs (the US Government and various universities and companies) haven't figured out what's going on -- the stainless steel rats are still thriving in the concrete wainscoating of our high-tech society. But let's not be quite so self-righteous about our nibbling... 5. Political flame: For heaven's sake, making money isn't *automatically* a sin! Anyone who thinks so may prove it by donating their paycheck to charity... (And RMS has, effectively.) Dale -- Dale Worley, Compass, Inc. mit-eddie!think!compass!worley Seen in a net discussion: "It took work to make tofu politically correct."
tower@WHEATIES.AI.MIT.EDU (Leonard H. Tower Jr.) (12/10/88)
Dale: if a discussion of this type starts on USENET's comp.emacs. Please keep it there. Do NOT forward it to info-gnu-emacs as well. Date: Mon, 5 Dec 88 10:29:58 EST From: think!compass!worley@eddie.mit.edu (Dale Worley) 2. Of course, the same argument applies to any message noting that Gnu distribution tapes are available from FSF for $400! FSF's current price per-tape is $150.00. FSF does not sell 2/3 of a tape. 'nuff said. Please note that if you have to buy tapes from someone, buying them from FSF helps create more GNU software. All the surplus from tape sales goes to pay FSF programmers and technical writers. thanx -len