Irony

[Marc Espie]

In article <oru1hy7y7r.fsf@free.redhat.lsd.ic.unicamp.br> you write:
>> I'm sorry, but use of the `Free Software' term smells of propaganda, and
>> has some very bad connotations for me (because I'm very much wary of
>> propaganda, especially when it's based on replication of memes through 
>> vocabulary alteration).
>
>Well, then help fight the vocabulary alteration that introduced this
>new meaning to the word `free´, that originally had to do with
>freedom, but that can now be used as the confusing and ambiguous short
>version of `free of charge.´

Ah, but the slant is more subtle.  I contend that `Free Software' does
not correspond to freedom as I see it. 

Specifically, freedom to choose my own destiny, and use software as I see
fit, and possibly do the right moral thing because *I* want to (e.g., 
continue to share sources), not because some licence legally binds me to
do it.

See, not everyone believe that GPL software is free. To me, it's a close
approximation, but BSD and MIT come much closer to it.

This is not surprising, since RMS designed the GPL as a weapon to use
against proprietary software vendors.