From: johnston@me.udel.edu (Bill Johnston)
Subject: Re: Fund raising at the FSF
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 02:54:25 GMT

In article <1993Jan3.170815.18962@husc3.harvard.edu> zeleny@husc10.harvard.edu (Michael Zeleny) writes:
>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:

>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!

Then list the source code screen by screen and transcribe it by pencil. 

It is still free for your use under the terms of the GPL - the terms 
set by the owner and copyright holder, which is not Mikhail Zeleny
unless I've missed the name of a major contributor.

>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.

Indeed?  It's probably easier to live up to one's billing when 
one has no billing.  Finding a better way to copyright and distribute 
software and source code is a subject that many have talked about;
the FSF (including "men" like Stallman for those who insist on 
personalizing) have actually taken a public position and done
their best to put their ideas into practice.  Few political action
groups have so successfully worked both the theoretical and practical 
sides of a difficult problem.

If you have a better idea, please share it;  we're interested.

Otherwise, your carping on semantics and potshots at certain
personalities within FSF get old quick.  They been done more 
convincingly in the past by people who evinced a genuine concern
for improving our society's approach to intellectual property,
rather than a prediliction for one-sided accounts of alleged
hypocrisy in seven-years-past conversations with FSF principals. 

The case of glass screen and pencil differs from personal delivery 
by an FSF representative only in the amount of work that you need 
to do to take advantage of it.  It is still free, and if you want 
find a easier way to get GNU software all you have to do is read the 
file named "GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE" that is available on most if not all
ftp sites and mirrors.  I'll mail the whole text to you later, but here
is a snippet:

 * How To Get The Software

 The easiest way to get a copy of the distribution is from someone else
 who has it.  You need not ask for permission to do so, or tell any one
 else; just copy it.  The second easiest is to ftp it over the
 Internet.  The third easiest way is to uucp it.  Ftp and uucp
 information is in file /pub/gnu/etc/FTP.

 If you cannot get a copy any of these ways, or if you would feel more
 confident getting copies straight from us, or if you would like to get
 some funds to us to help in our efforts, you can order one from the   
 Free Software Foundation.  See file /pub/gnu/etc/DISTRIB.

Now, like the FSF, I am willing to distribute GNU software for a fee.  
Like FSF, I charge different people different amounts for this service, 
and I have no moral qualms or semantic nightmares over describing this 
as a "distribution fee".  Difficult people in particular usually get 
quoted a higher price, but I have been been known to make exceptions.

For you, Mikhail Zeleny, my "fee" is zero in for as long as I can 
keep my machine up and running.  I keep a reasonably collection 
of GNU source on tape;  I have decent e-mail and ftp connectivity,
and a floppy drive that can read and write most floppy formats.
I also have a fast modem if you would prefer to uucp from me rather 
than FSF.  Just send me mail, and I will arrange to make a copy of 
any current GNU source package available in a form that you can copy 
onto your own media free of charge.

As the file "GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE" points out, the easiest way to
get GNU software is to copy it from someone else who has it.  Now 
you know someone else who has it, Mr. Zeleny.  For you, it is free.
-- 
-- Bill Johnston (johnston@me.udel.edu)
-- 38 Chambers Street; Newark, DE 19711; (302)368-1949
Xref: sparky gnu.misc.discuss:4126 talk.philosophy.misc:3102 alt.usage.english:10197 alt.society.anarchy:972