From: zeleny@husc10.harvard.edu (Michael Zeleny)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss,talk.philosophy.misc,alt.usage.english,alt.society.anarchy
Subject: Re: Fund raising at the FSF
Date: 3 Jan 93 22:08:14 GMT
Organization: The Phallogocentric Cabal

In article <C0Ap5A.A4v@news.udel.edu> 
johnston@me.udel.edu (Bill Johnston) writes:

>In article <1993Jan2.221526.18943@husc3.harvard.edu>
>zeleny@husc10.harvard.edu (Michael Zeleny) writes:

MZ:
>>The way I see it, the use of GNU places me under a legal obligation to
>>the FSF; on the other hand, as a certified misanthrope with no ready
>>ftp access, I have no way to obtain a copy for nothing.

BJ:
>Two unsupported, unsupportable assertions.  

Given that the support has been given in the parts you so craftily
elided, the unsupportability exists solely in your mind.

BJ:
>What legal obligation is placed upon the USER of GNU software?  
>Be specific;  I use GNU software every day.  I have yet to pay
>any money for it;  it works better than the commercial software 
>it replaced, but I don't want to expose myself to unnecessary 
>legal hassles.  What am I missing?  Am I a victim of brain-washing?

You are a victim of something, but I shan't speculate on its causes.
The obligation is not to use any part of GNU in a proprietary manner.
Chew on that; it might allow you to shut up for a while.

BJ:
>As for "no way to obtain a copy for nothing":  this assertion 
>only demonstrates ignorance and that you haven't been reading.  

On the contrary, I had read the thing long before it was made public.
Again, your accusations of ignorance can cut both ways, and in this
instance, will injure only yourself.

BJ:
>It has been repeatedly pointed out that GNU software is available free
>of charge to anyone with enough ability and time to learn how to use
>the various ftp-by-email services.  This surely includes Mikhail Zeleny.

Can you imagine a student account without ready access to a non-glass
output device, and a one meg disk quota?  Good boy!

BJ:
>Do you require that FSF itself set up a free BBS or provide a 
>self-service disk duplicator in their office?  Do you require
>that GNU software by delivered free of charge by an FSF
>representative to your home?  Do you require a free personal 
>tutorial, and perhaps the right to bore and/or insult the tutor 
>during the lesson?

I don't require jack shit, my excitable boy, with the sole exception
that men live up to their billing.

BJ:
>Is the software not free enough because you personally have not
>taken the time to find out how to get it for free, or because
>FSF does not include a list of all possible "free" ways to get
>the software at the beginning of each price of its price lists? 
>
>Or is ftp-by-email not free enough because you have to pay a
>phone bill or own a not-free computer and modem to use it?
>
>Is it not "free" because my grandmother has never heard of it?

This is getting tedious.  I shall proceed to ignore you fothwith,
until and unless your grandmother teaches you some manners and
intelligence.

BJ:
>As for Mr. Zeleny being a "certified misanthope", I imagine 
>that the feeling is mutual.

You are breaking my heart.

>-- 
>-- Bill Johnston (johnston@me.udel.edu)
>-- 38 Chambers Street; Newark, DE 19711; (302)368-1949

cordially,
mikhail zeleny@husc.harvard.edu
"Le cul des femmes est monotone comme l'esprit des hommes."
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss,talk.philosophy.misc,alt.usage.english,alt.society.anarchy