Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Throwing a curve ball

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:9/9/2000; 10:26:18 AM
Topic:Guido and Richard
Msg #:21069 (In response to 21066)
Prev/Next:21068 / 21070

Eric, you're doing a great job.

I'm just probing at the philosophy to see how it works at a philosophical level. Not seeking to invalidate a license agreement. Just wondering if it accomplishes its goals or if there are technical reasons why co-existence can happen at a non-superficial level, even though a license agreement seems to limit such cooperation.

I used to ask open source people how they could use Linux on Intel chips when the microcode in the Intel CPU was proprietary. Now I can add to that, how can you be philosophically pure and run open source software on Windows or the Mac?

We all have to get pragmatic if our work is to have any meaning. You can't wait for perfection to show up, because it'll never happen. We only live so long. At some point it's better just to work together.

One more thing before I head out for the MB5 conference, a story I love to repeat. A teach of mine once began a discussion by saying we could "choose not to answer, tell the truth, or lie" in response to his questions. In that spirit any license agreement is just useful among honorable people. Piracy happens. Our license agreement is violated every day, for sure. That's pragmatic.

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