On Sun, 2006-11-05 at 14:39 +0000, michael hast wrote:
> Levi Bard wrote:
<snip>
> That's a little harsh, dude. Yeah, he plugged the product quite a bit,
> granted. But, if I found out that you were a firefighter at a station
> with an aged breathing air compressor that was giving you fits, I would
> make sure that you were aware that the company I work for could provide
> a high-quality new one affordably.
Yeah, but that is what company representatives are PAID to do. They take
flame and smelt it into gold or they crisp into charcoal. If everyone
took the words of a company representative as faith, we'd all be using
Windoze while chanting, "BB!" Those representatives are out to make a
dime. Even though there are freely available versions of their
distribution, they want to profit, so they add enticements.
From what I read and hear, about this agreement between Microsoft and
Novell, is an implied threat such as, "if you use our distro or provide
free code to our distro, you'll be free from any impending litigation
doom, on the horizon."
If you read posts from this list, you most likely use free software. If
you enjoy free software, you might keep in mind that some folks from the
proprietary side find "free software" more efficacious than their
proprietary counterpart. It's free code with none of the nuisance of
paying developers. Proprietary folk, tenaciously seek a way to absorb
this free code and call it their own and then charge anyone who uses it.
If proprietary software suits your needs. Buy it and use it.
What I don't want to see is some vendor telling me how great emacs or
vim or any other free software program is and, for $20, I can use it on
one machine.
I applaud anyone who drills a company representative. If the
representative can't take it, they're the charcoal I mentioned above.
Keep in mind, the next guy may be tougher. Without trying to sound like
RMS, remember this is about freedom and not the feelings of a company
representative.
Logan
Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time we need wages. -- Terry Pratchett
Registered Linux User: 277727
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