Ruminations on software freedom

Posted Aug 30, 2007 8:53 UTC (Thu) by jospoortvliet (subscriber, #33164) [Link]

This doesn't mean it's always practical or usefull what he says, but yes,
imho he always has a point. Yet moral stuff is dificult. Someone asked me
once if I considered running proprietary software immoral.

Well, I said, strictly speaking, yes. That software is designed (besides
it's normal purpose) to take away freedom, and by running it, you help it
accomplish that - it all depends on market share, after all. But that
doesn't mean I wouldn't want to run non-free software, or bash ppl who
do.

Why? There is a difference between strictly speaking and real life.
Strictly speaking, if you go out for dinner, and spend like 50 bucks for
a meal, that's immoral. In Africa, people die because they don't have 1
buck for food. You can't justify spending 400 bucks on a nice day in
DisneyLand with your family while that money could have saved tens of
lives.

Yet you do it. And nobody considers you evil. Moral issues are difficult
and weird. So yes, Stallman is "Right" (TM).