[sf-lug] OLPC to become more like Microsoft...

[Rick Moen]

Quoting RBV (GoodWriter2548 at earthlink.net):

> I presume that one of the things that will always differentiate  
> open-source / FOSS software from commercial software is the fact that  
> FOSS isn't compelled to artificially create "features" on order to pad  
> out an upgrade list.

Um, whether software is commercial or non-commercial is an _orthogonal_
issue from whether it's proprietary or open source.

If I sell you a CD with nothing but open source software on it, that
makes it by definition commercial software (because it was the object of
commerce).  If I give you a CD with a copy of the proprietary Adobe 
Acrobat Reader on it, that is (at that moment) non-commercial software,
since it was not the object of commerce.

Many of the enemies of open source / free software work hard to convince
people that such software is inherently non-commercial.  The next step 
after that is to convince us that "academic" licences permitting
non-commercial use only are OK.  However, one of the really key freedoms
that Stallman and others have worked long and hard for is the right to
use software for _any_ purpose including (in particular) commerce.

Please do not fall into that trap.

The obverse of open source / free licensing is _proprietary_ licensing,
not "commercial" licensing.