On Dec 10, 2007 3:31 PM, Jacob Yocom-Piatt  wrote:

quoted text
>

> Doug Fordham wrote:

> > On Dec 10, 2007 12:55 PM, Jacob Yocom-Piatt  wrote:

> >

> >> Marco Peereboom wrote:

> >>

> >>> On Mon, Dec 10, 2007 at 10:18:47AM -0500, Richard Stallman wrote:

> >>>

> >>> Speaking of strawman arguments; this is such an insult to ones

> >>> intelligence.  You are basically saying: "you are retarded if you don't

> >>> let me tell you what you want".

> >>>

> >> marco, you're forgetting that this is what "freedom" is all about in the

> >> US: i tell you what free is... and what the definition of is is...

> >>

> >>

> > Has nothing to do with what "freedom is all about in the U.S."...how

> > about keeping this apolitical and on subject; that being RMS's

> > comments as an individual.

> >

>

> how about keeping this on subject and including my directly relevant

> comment in your response claiming that my response is not relevant:

>

> "claiming products that use binary blobs and GPL-ed code are more free

> than BSD or ISC stuff is about the dumbest thing i've heard on this list

> lately, and there's plenty of retarded statements that circulate here.

> the pot calling the kettle black never fails to put a smile on my face ;) "

>

> the initial comment is an obvious tie-in to the second one i made: by

> choosing how to define free, rms twists the issue at hand and spins it

> as he sees fit, in this case to support his own interests and projects

> he likes. i am merely pointing out the connection between the tack that

> many US institutions take and his, IMO, acutely misleading comments. in

> this context the analogy is directly relevant. if such blatantly

> self-serving comments were to come from me, another US citizen, i would

> not be one bit surprised if i were criticized on the same grounds.

>

Actually, I'm not claiming that your response is irrelevant and In

fact, I agree with your points concerning the rms spin doctor

techniques and misleading comments. The only contention was with the

"this is what freedom is all about in the US".

RMS' comments really do not relate to what freedom (whatever

definition one chooses to employ) is all about; in the US or anywhere

else. RMS's philosophy is "citizenship" neutral, and in order to

properly counter his (misguided)  concepts, opposing arguments should

be politically neutral as well.
From RMS' comments, it is obvious that he has not used OpenBSD and his

position is based on a "From what I've heard..." His obvious lack of

research and preparation prior to posting to this list, and his subtle

comparision of OpenBSD and gNewSense confirms that a hard grasp of

reality is missing. For, while it is admirable that the gNewSense

folks are putting together a "blob-free" distribution (on the backs of

the Debian & Ubuntu Projects), comparing the gNewSense project to the

OpenBSD Project is akin to comparing a glider to the space shuttle; in

terms of functionality, complexity, and the overall knowledge,

experience and professionalism of the developers.
Regards,
df