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Comment by aurelius | Hacker News Reader

That's funny. One of the reasons I buy Apple products is because I want to get away from the FSF and GNU. Now that I have a job and earn good money, I'd rather pay for Apple Care and have Apple fix my broken computer while I do something more worthwhile with my time than sitting in the basement trying to debug "Free Software".

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This had to be one of the most depressingly naive perspectives on OSS I've seen on this site. It's really just an issue of trading money for convenience for you? Even granting that you're analysis is 100% correct, it's morally suspect. Your saying that now you've got yours, to hell with all the people who can't afford it or don't have access.

Really, you need to think this through a little more carefully. This is just embarrassing.

People buy computers to solve problems, not advance causes. It's not a zero-sum game like the FSF believes. I own Apple products but also use a ton of free software, as well as software that I've paid for. Fundamentalism doesn't help anyone.

Still, what if you can solve your problems and support a worthy cause, just with some inconvenience from time to time? Isn't it worth the inconvenience to support a worthy cause?

What's embarrassing is that you believe access to computers and software is some sort of basic human right. It is most certainly not. You and I have no more moral obligation to ensure free and fair access to software than we do to ensure free and fair access to electron microscopes.

So, go take your "free software" ideology and shove it up your backside. How dare you lecture me on morality, you insolent, self-righteous gas bag.

Such a hateful post. I feel sorry for you.

Some people do not believe that society would be better if everyone had access to basic needs. Food, shelter, and ability to improve their status in the world. Infrastructure like roads, math, and software to take a few examples helps to create those basic human right.

Good for you. Now what about the other 90% of the population who can't afford it?

It's okay if you don't want to pay with your time anymore. But perhaps it would be also nice to contribute to an ideal alternative?

What about them? Should we all go stand outside a Lexus dealership for the 90% of the population that can't afford a luxury car?

Since when did access to computer software become a basic human right? This kind of fanatical ideology around software disgusts me. How is it any more acceptable than religious fanaticism?

Easy, boy. I am not saying that everyone should be getting macs. I am just opposing this short-sighted mentality of "I am free to buy whatever I want, therefore I am free". This is not real freedom, that's all.

If you want to spend money on something that just works, while still supporting free software, you can buy a laptop from a company like System76 or ThinkPenguin.

But why should I support "free software", especially when people like the FSF want to convince me to sign away my rights as a developer of such software?

I don't support restrictive, people-hating ideologies. And neither should you.

How is software freedom a people-hating ideology? The FSF doesn't say that software must be under the GPL or another copyleft license to be considered free. Permissive licenses such as the BSD, X11, ISC, zlib, and Apache licenses are also free-software licenses. Many software freedom advocates choose to use copyleft licenses, and encourage others to do so, because they believe that's the best way to reach their goals. But they don't demand that all software be copyleft.

Such troll message, I don't even know where to begin.

Is this really what some people revert to when offered useful software, often for free, which access to source and permission to use, modify and share the program?

If sharing is an "people-hating ideologies", what must proprietary software then be?

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