[Liverpool] New FSFE Free PDF Readers Campaign

[Bob Ham]

On Thu, 2010-09-16 at 23:11 +0100, Sebastian wrote:
> > There are already active, successful campaigns regarding the issue of
> > what kind of licenses the government itself acquires.  The government
> > has made recommendations to ministries that free software be acquired.
> 
> *Only* free software? Or free software *as well*? Also, free software, 
> or specifically open source? Both of these aspects are of great 
> importance in determining the suitability and relevance of this campaign.

I beg your pardon, it was open source.  And I believe it was: as well
but with a preference for.


> And there within lies one of the significant problems of this campaign. 
> The fact that people apply principles blindly, instead of analysing the 
> situation on a case by case basis and being realistic about what they 
> propose.

What is being proposed is that people apply a principle through
analysing the situation on a case by case basis and being realistic
about how it can be applied.

The FSFE is recommending that the government adopt a particular policy.
Government policies aren't implemented blindly.


> This particular campaign:
> 
> 1. It's not for all our good.

I'm not sure what you mean here; the campaign is plainly intended to be
for all our good.

> 2. It wouldn't really improve our lives in anyway.

The use of free software over proprietary software is an improvement in
the freedom of the user.  I think most people would consider increased
freedom to be an improvement in their life.

> 3. It wouldn't promote open standards (the pdf format is already open).

One could argue that promoting one particular open standard is
implicitly promoting open standards in general.  Regardless, I don't
believe anybody has claimed that this particular campaign will promote
open standards in general.

> 4. It wouldn't open up the door for healthier competition

Again, I don't believe anybody has claimed that it will open up the door
for healthier competition.

> 5. It would be done so that some people would feel more righteous about 
> themselves.

This is ad hominem rubbish.

> 6. It would be done to keep the same principles of other campaigns they 
> ran before.

I don't really understand what you're arguing here.  The FSFE is
dedicated to software freedom.  All of their campaigns will promote the
same principles.  This is a good thing.

-- 
Bob Ham <rah at bash.sh>

for (;;) { ++pancakes; }
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