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Re: Free Art vs Free Software: A Double Standard?



On Sat, Jul 28, 2001, Diego G. Iastrubni wrote about "Free Art vs Free Software: A Double Standard?":
> I think that free-software MUST be maid with free-software as well. You do 
> need to use a free text-editor and a free compiler for free software, or elso 
> it is still something soteleen. (The author thinks the opposite, so I 
> strongly disagree with him).

I don't agree with you. If my favorite editor was Microsoft Notepad, and
I legally owned a copy to it (and the Windows OS in which it lives), then
I would write everything using Notepad. Including source-code. Including
source code which I plan to give out for free. As long as the Notepad license
does not require paying royaltees to Microsoft for the documents you write in
it (and it certainly doesn't!), I don't see why would anyone even consider
it illegal, immoral, or unethical to hand out files you wrote in Notepad
for free.

Moreover, you should know that many free software supporters (and even
authors) are not fanatics, in the sense that they don't mind to use (legal
copies of) commercial software coming from "non-hated" companies for
specialised things. For example, a free-software-loving artist may love
Photoshop, and choose to buy it (and the Windows that is necessary to run
Photoshop, unfortunately) for $1000 (or whatever it costs now). Why is it
"stealing" if he then gives out the pictures he draws, for free??

There are two other issues with using non-free software though:

 1. When you use non-free software, you admit that it is better than the
    relevant free software. You admit that it's so much better you just can't
    use the free software instead. You admit that you don't care enough to
    help the free software project add those missing features.
    Real free software "activists" will not agree to admit those things.

 2. If the non-free software generates output in some proprietary format that
    is not readable with free software, you are causing problems for the free
    software world, that will now have to work to deal with that format. This
    is usually a problem with Microsoft software.
    This is complicated by the fact that sometimes the application can export
    data in standard formats (e.g., Photoshop exporting jpeg), but these
    formats do not contain all the data necessary to further edit the data
    (e.g., the jpeg doesn't contain the layer information in the original PSD
    file).


-- 
Nadav Har'El                        |         Saturday, Jul 28 2001, 9 Av 5761
nyh@math.technion.ac.il             |-----------------------------------------
Phone: +972-53-245868, ICQ 13349191 |Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter
http://nadav.harel.org.il           |since nobody listens.

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