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From: | Tim Dobson |
Subject: | Re: [Fsfe-uk] Wikipedia to merge Free Software and Open Source |
Date: | Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:05:43 +0100 |
User-agent: | Thunderbird 2.0.0.12 (X11/20080227) |
Philip Hunt wrote:
On 06/04/2008, Noah Slater <address@hidden> wrote:The Wikitrolls and OSI appologists on Wikipedia are planning to merge the articles on Free Software and Open Source to avoid "nitpicking and agenda-advancing" despite the obvious absurdity of this.It isn't obvious to me that this is absurd.
Open Source and Free Software are separate things.Noah isn't saying there is any problems with Open Source, or people who support Open Source or anything like that.
What he is stating, perhaps a bit cryptically, is that people who perhaps spend a little too much time on Wikipedia are trying to merge the articles on "Open Source Software" and "Free Software".
I think he believes here is that Open Source Software and Free Software have sufficiently different goals and ideals to merit different Wikipedia articles as opposed to a combined article.
Therefore he is encouraging people to show their support on the said Wikipedia discussion page, if they believe the same as him.
It may even be conceived that he could be reaching out to people from the Open Source Software movement, who don't want their Wikipedia entry diluted with talk about ethics.
I believe this is the message that Noah is trying to relay, in the simplest terms possible.
On a personal level, I certainly agree with Noah, and I have seen the arguments of the people from Wikipedia (representatives of neither the Free Software Movement *or* the Open Source Software Movement), which *I* perceive to be totally stupid and without logic.
Anyway, I would encourage one to investigate the situation and then make an honest decision based on what the arguments are, rather than the personal opinions of people on this list.
-- www.tdobson.net ---- If each of us have one object, and we exchange them, then each of us still has one object. If each of us have one idea, and we exchange them, then each of us now has two ideas. - George Bernard Shaw
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