[OT] What is Open Source? (was Re: ANN: Twisted 0.16.0...)

[Laura Creighton]

> Andrew McNamara wrote:
> > 
> > >Interersting.  If so, then RMS is 'guilty' of an almost humorous
> > >contradiction.
> > 
> > Speculation - maybe he's aware of this and simply sees it as playing
> > what he sees as a fatally flawed system against itself? 8-)

This is most definitely the case.  Plus he is trying to reform it.

> I wonder what he would do if there were no intellectual
> property laws. Would he be campaigning for the introduction
> of a law that enabled him to enforce the price that the
> GNU copyleft exacts?

RMS does not see 'property' in the same way that most people do.  In
particular, he sees intellectual property laws, at least as
exemplified by the copyright acts, as exploiting the creators on
behalf of the publishers, all the while cleverly tricking the creators
into foolishly believing that they benefit.  So. If there were no
copyrights, then there still is contract law -- and RMS would be
writing the GNU contract, not the copyleft.  (Or something.  Speculating 
what RMS would do in some hypothetical world is dangerous -- I've 
been wrong enough times on what he would do in this world, in
the next ten minutes .-))

Laura Creighton