RMS gave a lecture at the African Freesoftware Movement
meeting at Witts University recently.
He was at pains to erase the idea that it is unprofitable to write
freesoftware.
We need to show the business advantages of 1/using an entirely free software system 2/writing and supporting freesoftware.
Mixing free and proprietary software was only an opening gambit to allow people to use freesoftware before a complete system
was available.
Nick Hockings
I disagree. Personally, I strongly suspect that Microsoft are right when they say free software is commercial suicide (in the current economy). Others say it isn't. The point is that either position seems based on a lot of tenuous logic, at least so far, and being dragged into that debate when we can talk far more truthfully about the direct human benefits of free software can only dilute the public perception of those truths. Let the Open Source people spend their time finding statistics in their favour.
David