On Sat, Sep 15, 2007 at 03:53:02PM +0200, Marc Espie wrote: > On Sat, Sep 15, 2007 at 12:33:02PM +0100, Rui Miguel Silva Seabra wrote: > > On Fri, Sep 14, 2007 at 03:25:38PM -0700, J.C. Roberts wrote: > > > > I'd love to see how an user who gets a modified binary version has > > > > the freedom to modify it. Go ahead. Prove me that it doesn't allow > > > > some users to loose freedom... > > > > Hello again Rui, > > > > the US. Over here, if you own a copy of a program, you can modify it as > > > much as you want > > > Good luck doing so without any source code. > > > > Of course, you are free to have strong feelings about whatever you like, > > > and hold opinions based on flawed understanding, but as long as you > > > insist on remaining uneducated about the laws, you are failing yourself > > > and failing your supposed "duty" to make things clear. Please stop. > > > You seem uneducated about how powerless someone is without the freedom to > > change a program because he has no access to the source code. > > > You stop. > > Nonsense. It's similar to how powerless non-programmer people feel when > they report a bug and get told to fix it `since they have the source'.
Most people think it's magic, and most don't understand that it may be as simple as adding a couple of lines (eg: http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=118232405007254&w=2) Compare adding that feature in C with adding that feature in machine code and then tell me how it is similar. > And don't get me started on all the linux code that is full of magic > constants, was written under NDAs, and is about as useful as binary blobs > for the people who do NOT have access to the NDA documentation... Yeah, it's a shame, fortunately the pressure seems to be working out (vide ATI). > ... or the people who don't care that ATI/nvidia doesn't give their 3D specs > as long as they provide binary drivers that work under linux/i386. Yup, very common, unfortunately. Rui -- Grudnuk demand sustenance! Today is Pungenday, the 39th day of Bureaucracy in the YOLD 3173 + No matter how much you do, you never do enough -- unknown + Whatever you do will be insignificant, | but it is very important that you do it -- Gandhi + So let's do it...?
