[libreplanet-discuss] Free as in Freedom Access to Hardware (was: GAMING COLLECTIVE: Anybody play Ryzom?)

[Patrick Anderson]

wayne, steve wrote:
> Is Free as in Freedom access to hardware completely
> egalitarian; ie, all users have equal access to that
> hardware?  What does this mean, exactly?

This is a 'core' question.

We must use logic to find the answers to such problems
instead of relying upon popularity by vote.


Consider the most simple case where two people share
access to one computer.

If both users pay exactly 50% of the initial and
recurring costs, then they should each have equal
access - meaning they each get one-half of:

* Disk space
* CPU time
* Network throughput
* Memory use
* Time at the Terminal - assuming there is one and
  only one Keyboard/Video/Mouse.
* Maybe some other details

These are the same kind of parameters any 'cloud'
provider would advertise to potential users.

Now imagine User#1 doesn't really need that much
capacity, and (luckily) User#2 wants more.

They talk it through and realize User#1 could pay less
recurring Costs and User#2 could pay the difference,
and so User#1 would then have less access because he
is choosing to pay less of the costs.

This seems logical to me.



> Does the principle of least privilege apply to "Free
> as in Freedom" access to hardware?

This is also a 'core' question, and probably more
difficult to answer.

Some thoughts off the top of my head:

* Even a single User who does not share access to his
  computer should choose to operate under the
  "Principle of Least Privilege".  In other words,
  nobody should run as 'root' - even their own
  machine, except when necessary because it is just
  so dangerous.

* I would like to hear Richard Stallman's thoughts on
  this considering his fight against passwords and
  administrative accounts/groups during his MIT years.
  "Because I don't believe that it's really desirable
  to have security on a computer, I shouldn't be
  willing to help uphold the security regime." --
  http://oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/ch07.html