On Mon, Sep 02, 2002 at 05:56:08PM +0200, Russell Coker wrote: DB>> Discouraging use of patent-encumbered technologies is the same as DB>> political emigration: it is the easy way out of the oppression, DB>> but it is nothing else but a defeat, and when you are fleeing to DB>> another country, this defeat will follow you there. If you want to DB>> fight oppression, you should fight where you stand, and not run DB>> away until you're locked in a corner. RC> That moral stance makes sense. RC> RC> However it can be applied in a different way to this situation. RC> Resolving to not use your PC for audio or video applications RC> because of patents would be fleeing from opression. Writing and RC> supporting new programs to perform the same tasks without the RC> patents is actively fighting back.
Agreed. But, encouraging development of patent-free and better alternative is not exactly the same as discouraging the use of patent-encumbered _free_ software. I'm all for the former, but I disagree with the latter. -- Dmitry Borodaenko
