Fwd: ESR/OSI's Unix/Linux-history-laden treatise on SCO vs. IBM

[Stephen McKay]

On Wednesday, 21st May 2003, Gary W. Swearingen wrote:

>"Eric S. Raymond" <esr at thyrsus.com> writes:
>
>> It's fine for us to argue about among ourselves.  But from the point
>> of view of any outsider, you're engaging in a theological dispute of
>> *zero* interest.  I am therefore ignoring this distinction, very
>> deliberately.
>
>You could easily fix your few overreaches of GNU propaganda, with no
>harm to the fact-based logic of your case.  What you instinctively aim
>to do is to slip in claims about Linux which are untrue from the point
>of view of an outsider (even if the claims seems true to those who've
>adopted the GNU culture's self-serving language).
>
>I'm not engaging in a theological dispute...

>From where I sit (FreeBSD devotee, occasional Linux user, open/free source
convert) this does look very much like a theological dispute.

I read Eric's position paper and it looked just fine to me (though on
re-checking I find I read one that's about 7 revisions out of date now so
I suppose he could have added "I hate BSD" in some dusty corner).

I can't see why you are so peeved that while he's defending Linux from the
wolves he's not also pushing BSD.  I also don't see why he should spend time
in a pro-Linux document bagging the GPL.  It's Linux being attacked here,
and Linux is GPLed.

I can understand why some people don't like the GPL, and why some people
aren't entirely happy with the GNU philosopy, but this document isn't the
place to explore that issue.

Wouldn't it be much worse if nobody defended Linux and SCO crushed it?
Where would all the "count the angels on a pin head" arguments get you
then?

Cheers,

Stephen.