On or about 2004-01-13 03:50, Colin Charles whipped out a trusty #2
pencil and scribbled:
On Mon, 2004-01-12 at 21:35, Adam Kosmin wrote:
>I'll spell it out for you. By allowing this documentation to exist on
>fedoranews.org, readers are basically being told "It's ok to use and
>install non-FOSS software on your computer. In fact, we'll even show you
>how!".
>
>
Perhaps I'm just a bit dense, but I would think all of us have the right
to install whatever software we wish on our *personal* computers,
whether it's FOSS, non-FOSS, or dental FLOSS, it's our decision. (The
question of whether the software was obtained legally or not is an
*entirely* different question, although it might be an important
question.) Secondly, since this is an individual right, and since
people probably have varying opinions on the details of this, I don't
think trying to convince others to think the same way you think is
apropriate in a *technical* help mailing list. There are plenty of
*-advocacy lists, probably one for FOSS.
So if someone asks how to obtain/install an mp3 codec for mplayer,
that's a technical question that should get a technical answer. An
additional note that in some jurisdictions, a royalty is due to patent
holders is OK, but a sermon on FOSS is not on topic for this list, IMHO.
Sorry to be so blunt, but if it's a pig, you just have to call it a
pig. :-)
--
Fritz Whittington
Force without wisdom falls of its own weight. (Horace, Odes)