On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 4:44 PM, Mike Miller <mbmiller at taxa.epi.umn.edu> wrote: > On Tue, 21 Oct 2008, Elvedin Trnjanin wrote: > >> I was under the impression that non-free software was immoral because >> anything that takes away your rights is considered immoral. Doesn't >> matter if you agree to it, it's just a matter-of-fact. >> >> Is that not so? > > > Then copyright is immoral, right? If I write a book, and someone buys it, > he has implicitly agreed to the copyright terms and the law will come down > hard on him if he starts making copies and selling them. But without the > protection of copyright law, I think the consumer will not be getting the > kind of quality books to read that he has today. > This is bad analogy (copyright for books) - as you do not use books as productive tools - you use the knowledge in them. And there is pretty good protection about this (fair use). Also, you can modify, copy, make notes on the book etc. It's not the same with software - and I guess you know this, but you try to play "second" devil's advocate :) Cheers -- Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny) Even the most advanced equipment in the hands of the ignorant is just a pile of scrap.