Re: [DotGNU]DotGNU Manifesto - first draft

[Barry Fitzgerald]

Norbert Bollow wrote:
> 
> Here's a first attempt...
> 
> The DotGNU Manifesto
> ====================
> 
> The GNU project has taken a stand for the freedom of computer
> users, by making a complete operating system available where
> every component is Free Software, so that its users can freely
> modify and share it.
> 
> To many people this goal has seemed impossibly ambitious, and
> yet it has been reached.  In combination with the operating
> system kernel called Linux, the GNU system now has millions
> of users.  An alternative kernel named Hurd is still under
> development.
> 
> The GNU project has achieved its goal, but with this the work
> of GNU is not finished.  It is often said that the price of
> freedom is eternal vigilance.  This truth was popularized by
> Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826).  The original source seems to be
> a speech by John Philpot Curran, who said:
> 
>    "It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights
>    become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God
>    hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which
>    condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence
>    of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
> 
>    -- John Philpot Curran: Speech upon the Right of Election, 1790.
>       (Speeches. Dublin, 1808.)
> 

I would reliable this "A short history of the GNU project - and why
DotGNU has chosen to be a GNU project."

> One important element in defending the freedom of Free Software
> is to use a so-called "copyleft" license, such as the GNU
> General Public License (GPL) and the GNU Lesser General Public
> License (LGPL).  These licenses grant the user of the software
> very significant rights to redistribute the software, in
> original or modified form, but only under the condition that
> the recipient will also have these rights.
>

I would make a section for this paragraph and call it "What licenses we
use and why we use them."  Include the next few paragraphs (Until the
end of the current section) and flesh it out at the end with a
discussion on less preferable but still acceptable licenses in many
situations (like the X11 and BSD licenses).

 
> The significance of copyleft is that it prevents a company from
> just taking the software, making some changes, and then selling
> it in a way that denies the users essential freedom rights.
> 
> So copyleft is a major defense of Free Software against
> unscrupulous software companies.
> 
> Any company which wants to make a major attack against Free
> Software will attack this defense first, and try to destroy
> it, or make it ineffective.
>


*--- Revised Text ---*

The significance of copyleft is that it prevents any entity from
just taking the software, making some changes, and then selling
it in a way that denies the users essential freedom rights.

So copyleft is a major defense of Free Software against
unscrupulous people that wish to take the work of the community and use
it to subjugate that community.
 
Any entity which wants to make a major attack against Free
Software will attack this defense first, and try to destroy
it, or make it ineffective.  

*--- End Revised Text ---*

The reason why I want to change the focus away from companies is that it
is entirely possible for individuals to do the same thing and - in fact
- in a company it is individuals that would make the decision to take
Free code in the first place.  This makes the document less adverserial
to companies because companies aren't really the issue.

More comments to come later...  But, great job on a beginning to this
document. :)

        -Barry