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From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
To: yakker@aparity.com
CC: portnoy@tellink.net, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
In-reply-to: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0210201648510.13602-100000@nakedeye.aparity.com>
	(yakker@aparity.com)
Subject: Re: Bitkeeper outrage, old and new
Reply-to: rms@gnu.org
References: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0210201648510.13602-100000@nakedeye.aparity.com>
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Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 23:12:53 -0400
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    Nobody's evil or stupid or naive just because they make a certain
    licensing choice.

It is a stretch to conclude anything about the general attitude or
character of a person from one action, so I would not say the people
who distribute non-free software are "evil people" in a general sense.
I will say they have done one thing that is evil: distributing a
non-free program.

Non-free software licenses are designed to divide and dominate the
users, denying them the basic freedoms for software users.  That's
what makes them non-free, and that is what makes it wrong.  Non-free
software is a social problem, one that we need to solve if computer
users are to have freedom.

There are many different ways people make money; some are ethical
while others involve mistreating others.  If we accept "making a
living" as a valid excuse to mistreat people, we will be mistreated
constantly.  There comes a time when we have to say that we are not
impressed by the argument that "We need to do this to people in order
to make a living."

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