Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand discussion

["Hamish MacEwan" <hamish.macewan AT gmail.com>]

On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 3:33 AM (and on numerous other occasions),
strypes <strypey AT riseup.net> quote:

> "To use proprietary software is to invite the developer to put his boot
> on your neck. It's power that nobody should have."
> - Richard Stallman
> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy

While having enormous respect for and gratitude to rms, and at the
risk of being told to go away, I'd like to query the validity of this
observation under the aegis of the "CC is not for software" thread.

Like a couple of memes rms exploits, this one has a flaw.  While I of
course have only one neck, and the notion of boot on it, as Telecom
had on us all in the past, is repulsive, this is no longer the case
with software.

I use Mac OSX, Windows (2000 & XP), and GNU/Linux (Debian & Ubuntu),
and in the SaaS environment, Google et al.

If any of them were to behave as if they had their boot on my neck, I
would use something else.  Google I think, despite attempts to become
"stickier," recognises (as some regimes don't) that rather than
publishing converging to communication, the reverse is true.  If your
radio station doesn't broadcast what you want to hear, tune elsewhere,
and if there is no elsewhere set up an LPFM of your own, or populate
your portable audio/video player with whatever you want.

One throat to choke is either an artifact of legacy scarcity, or a
choice, and if freedom is nothing else, it is the freedom to choose.


Hamish.
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