Re: [Fsfe-uk] Low cost computing for small business - Commentswanted

[MJ Ray]

Daniel Hedley <address@hidden> wrote:
> GPL or GNU is important to me on an ethical level, but what I meant by
> free in this instance is literally not having to pay for it or sign up to
> some horrendous licensing scheme such as the Microsoft Open License, which
> is what prompted the project in the first place. In this instance
> availability of source code, though desirable, is a secondary
> consideration.

Free Software is not just about availability of source code!  While that
does allow you some assurances, the real issue is the freedom from
"horrendous licensing schemes".  Two examples why this freedom is important:

If you have signed your clients up for some proprietary software that just
happened to be cost-free at that time, will they thank you when it later
becomes costly and they have to either migrate or upgrade and pay?

If your client needs the software adapting slightly to do a task, how can
they hire someone to do it if the software licence does not permit it?

For reasons like these, I suggest it's far better to go for a Free system
rather than a Free+proprietary mix.  (Note also that a few "with source"
licences don't allow you these freedoms.)

> including quality hardware (ie Dell or similar).

Hrrrrm ;-)

> If people are interested I can post progress reports to this list. It

Yes, please do.

> Penguins forever.

Stuff penguins.  Freedom forever ;-)