[sclug] Cheap'n'nasty Tesco Linux machines

[Alex Butcher]

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008, Tom Carbert-Allen wrote:

> I wish people would stop darkening the name of communism/socialism/marxism by 
> both suggesting that communist countries are evil and by re-stating that evil 
> dictators who claim to be communist are showing us how bad an idea communism 
> is.
>
> FOSS show that the socialist ideals do actually work rather well, and can 
> dispell many a myth about there production rate being slower, or quality 
> poorer.

I think the originator of 'OSS' would be rather disgusted with it being
associated with communism, socialism or marxism, given that he's a
right-leaning libertarian!

Personally, I think of Free Software as most similar to true
(Bakunin/Proudhon) Anarchism rather than any of the political ideologies
you've described (of course, Anarchism is not completely divorced from
Marxism...). There's no dictatorship involved, whether from evil dictators
or the proletariat! Heck, we tend to think Microsoft and their customers are
heading down a blind alley, but consider them free to carry on doing so if
they so wish (as long as it's not our taxes they're spending...)

> TCA

Best Regards,
Alex.
-- 
Alex Butcher, Bristol UK.                           PGP/GnuPG ID:0x5010dbff

"[T]he whole point about the reason why I think it is important we go for
identity cards and an identity database today is that identity fraud and
abuse is a major, major problem. Now the civil liberties aspect of it, look
it is a view, I don't personally think it matters very much."
  - Tony Blair, 6 June 2006 <http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page9566.asp>