[Freegis-list] just free

[Jeroen Ticheler]

Thanks for that posting! I can't agree more. I subscribed just a few  
weeks ago and was quite surprised to see this 'brash intolerance' ;-)  
It really made me feel I entered the domain of the hard-liners fighting  
any mention of closed /semi-closed/ semi open software with a solid  
counter attack! ;-) Still, I can see the reasoning and accept that  
fully. The list is very interesting and I will definitely follow the  
discussions with care, being a supporter of and small contributor to  
free software myself.
Greetings and a Happy new Year,
Jeroen

On 5 Jan 2005, at 17:44, Jack Varga wrote:

> On the topic of free and as a believer that RMS is perhaps the most
>  prolific philosopher of our time, I agree it is important to
>  toe the line with content posted to the list.  However, I am by
>  no means offended when a contributor provides a link to free(dom)
>  software that may share a page with a link to non-free(dom)
>  software.  Furthermore, brash intolerance, (i.e., flames) directed
>  at list contributers that err by posting info on "free"
>  software that doesn't include the "freedom" to modify, redistribute,
> etc., ultimately hurts our cause by instilling resentment, when
>  all that is needed is a courteous response, perhaps even off-list,
>  that notifies the offender of the err of their ways.  The childrens
>  tale of which, the wind or sun, is more effective at having a
>  maiden take off her coat comes to mind.  My $0.02...
>
> Now, a question.  Does anyone know of efforts to develop a DWG
>  library that is compatible with GPL, LGPL or a similar license?
>  The Open Design Group's OpenDWG library (a misnomer in its own
>  right), is seriously problematic in regards to licensing.
>
> Regards,
>  Jack Varga
>
> Bernhard Reiter wrote:
>  > On Tue, Jan 04, 2005 at 10:47:34AM -0800, Brian Wilson wrote:
>  >
> >>>>Please refrain from advertising proprietary software on this
>  >>>>list. Almost everywhere people read about non-free software
>  >>>>and this mailinglist is for Free Software only.
>  >
> >
> >>I've been a devoted Linux user since 1992, and look forward one day  
> to
>  >>having a usable (posstibly free) fully featured GIS product based on
>  >>Linux. Until then I will have to continue using ArcMap on Windows.
>  >
> >
> > As other have pointed out: There is very capable Free Software GIS
> > running on GNU/Linux, GRASS is among the strongest of them,
> > but there is a lot more.
> > Many of them also run on other operating systems like FreeBSD
>  > and even proprietary ones.
>  >
> >
> >>As far as I am concerrned if someone wants to announce availability  
> of
>  >>closed-source software that comes with a price tag of "free" on this
>  >>list, I'd say go for it. But it's not my list and I respect the  
> wishes
>  >>of the moderator.
>  >
> >
> > Thanks.
>  >
> >
> >>Many good solutions are lacking in the open source GIS world, and I
>  >>need to know how to solve problems cheaply and quickly even if the
>  >>sources for the solutions are closed.
>  >
> >
> > (The availability of the source is not enough for being Open Source.
>  > I would love to be able to be less careful with the terms,
>  > but there is a potential of missunderstanding with most of them.)
>  >
> > Note that many people on this list believe that
> > each time you use non-free software
> > even when forced by a certain degree,
>  > you morally do the wrong thing
> > in helping to take away freedom for them and the society.
>  >
> >
> >>If anyone knows of another mailing list oriented towards "solutions"
>  >>with a small 's' as in solving problems rather than becoming  
> entangled
>  >>in Free versus free issues, please let me know.
> >
> >
> > I can understand the need for pragmatic solutions,
>  > but we can only keep the quality of a list high if we focus the  
> topic.
>  >
> > Also off-topic are deep discussion about Free Software and its  
> terminiology.
> > Most of this was debated already during the last 20 years
>  > and thus there are much better places to contribute arguments.
>  >
> > If you look in the archive you can see that a lot of pragmatic help
>  > has been given for GIS solutions on freegis-list;
>  > only it was focussed on Free Software.
>  >
> >       Bernhard
>  >
> >
> >
> >  
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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