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RAND !== F/OSS compatible
RAND !== F/OSS compatible
Posted Feb 22, 2008 15:01 UTC (Fri) by smitty_one_each (subscriber, #28989)In reply to: RAND !== F/OSS compatible by drag
Parent article: Microsoft announces changes to promote interoperability
>This is morally acceptable What's badly needed is an overarching theory of 'moral'. I track the GPL well in a common-sense mode, and for that reason wouldn't touch MS's license cocaine with a 10-foot wookie. Arguments based upon 'moral' get squishy very quickly, and lead to much strife, ironically.
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RAND !== F/OSS compatible
Posted Feb 22, 2008 15:38 UTC (Fri) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
It's because it's human concepts and ideals that dictate morals and ethics and those change based on who you are talking to. My moral code is obviously going to be different then your's and most everybody else's. In life there are very very few things that do not quickly become 'squishy'. It's probably why so many people here like programming.. It's something that has absolution. There is a 'right' way and a 'wrong' way. When it is 'right' it works, and when it does not then it's wrong. It's very simple, it's testable, and generally there is a hard line on correctness. There are very very few other areas in society that can be that.. obvious between right and wrong. When ever software touches those other parts of human life (business, law, human interfaces) then it can't help but become 'squishy'. In my eyes extracting the maximum amount of freedom while working around the limitations of living in a modern government-controlled society is a very good thing that a software project can do. Except when it becomes appropriate to break those laws in acts of civil disobedience which then is 'more ethical'. So providing MS-patent-compatible open software (as open as is allowed by MS) that is designed with the expressed goal of allowing people to use more truly free software in a practical real-world environment is a good thing as long as that sort of software is kept to a minimum. Of course this is only good approach when those patents can't be otherwise worked around.