On Jan 5, 2008 12:53 PM, Rui Miguel Silva Seabra wrote: > 4) FYI I think the wine project is counter-productive as it enables > running non-free software on free software operating systems, and as > such de-incentivates the creation of replacements. > 4.1) but it's free software and its authors have their own independence.
It makes good sense to establish principles and stick to them. It makes sense that different people have different principles and will criticize one another on the basis of them. But I think it is important to recognize that what furthers adoption of free software over non-free software is complicated and does not seem to follow from any simple rule. For instance, it seems to you that the Wine project is counter-productive. But the Wine project is inseparable from winelib. If you're not already familiar with winelib, check it out--then I'd be curious to know if you still think the Wine project is counterproductive, considering that there are many free applications that are Windows-only for technical reasons arising out of decisions made early in their development. Separately from this, Wine enables people who retain Windows for a few applications to switch over entirely to other operating systems. How do you balance this effect against your suggested effect of discouraging development of free replacements to software? What would you need to know to actually know that Wine was ultimately counterproductive, or ultimately productive? When it comes right down to it, a lot of the arguments about what do and will have what effect don't stand up unless supported with statistical evidence. This is the sort of thing you could publish a paper on, or maybe a book. But there is no reason for anybody to buy any argument about what specific kinds of free software encourage adoption of free software that doesn't provide something approaching hard evidence. It is one thing to say that there is a way for a project to be run that is most ethical. It is another to say that this will have the most ethical effects in the long run. There is no reason to believe that what has the best effects in the long run is necessarily the right thing, but then again, if it turns out that the "ethical" thing usually leads to unethical results in the long run, it is worth examining one's ethics. -Eliah
