GNU discussion (was re:Free your phone)

[Dave Crossland]

On 23/01/07, David Ford <david at blue-labs.org> wrote:
>
> - Free software existed before GNU
> - Free software philosophies and movements existed before GNU
> - Free software will continue to exist after GNU
> - Free software philosophies and movements will continue to exist after GNU
> - GNU is not the One True Way (tm) of free software, never was, and
> never will be

I feel it is misleading to describe code distributed in the 1960s and
70s as 'free software' - because software freedom was not recognised
or enshrined.

It would be like labelling early farmers as organic.

> It's okay for you to disagree, but this doesn't give you the right to
> keep browbeating people into accepting the religion of GNU.

This is a matter of ethics, not religion. When you call it "religion",
do you mean it is purely arbitrary and not worth thinking about? Do
you dismiss all ethics by calling it
"religion"?

-- 
Regards,
Dave