[rms at gnu.org: Some problems on gnucash.org]

Derek Atkins warlord at MIT.EDU
Fri Aug 11 17:11:56 EDT 2006


Quoting Thomas Bushnell BSG <tb at becket.net>:

> Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU> writes:
>
>> Well, the fact that he doesn't control gnucash.org or any of the
>> servers that run gnucash infrastructure I think would be a major
>> impediment.   Nothing would stop him from creating a fork, but I
>> doubt anyone would follow there instead of using what comes from
>> gnucash.org.
>
> It sounds like you're saying "who cares if he starts a war; it will
> only do a little damage."

I don't see it as a war.  I see it as a tantrum.

> I think this is short-sighted.  Friendly relations with RMS are worth
> trying to keep.  Of course, if he demands something unreasonable,
> then we may have to stand our ground and refuse.  But I don't think
> the current request is unreasonable.  It's worth bending on for the
> sake of peace.

No, I'm saying "if he's going to act like a 6-year old just treat him
as such".  When a child has a tantrum usually the best thing to do is
let them have the tantrum and eventually they will tire themselves out,
stop crying, and move on with life.  I look at this in the same manner.

I agree that it's worth bending, some, and I've already suggested that.
However I don't agree that we should jump at any request RMS makes.

>> I think the proper response to RMS is "thank you for your concern.
>> We've added the link to gnu.org."  And just leave it at that.  I
>> don't think we should even mention the "Free" vs. "Open Source"
>> in a reply.
>
> Well, I think independently that we should say "free".

We already say that.

  GnuCash is personal and small-business financial-accounting software,
  freely licensed under the GNU GPL and available for GNU/Linux, *BSD,
  Solaris and Mac OSX.

> The term "open source" was, in fact, created as a deliberate attempt
> to slap RMS in the face, and I think he is rightly bothered by it.
> It is certainly not any clearer than "free software".  The term by
> itself only denotes "you can look at the source"; it does not (by the
> grammar of the phrase) say anything about any freedoms.
>
> In addition, the OSI has certified patently non-free licenses as open
> source, making things worse.

So?  We're not the OSI.

> Thomas

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available



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