On 19 December 2016 at 21:12, Charles Cossé ccosse@gmail.com wrote:
But it's been interesting to debate this ethics business, and I do prefer your personal position in the last paragraph of your previous post, which sounds much less rigid and more inclusive. And I'm essentially asking whether it wouldn't be better if FSF(E) doctrines were more like the personal opinion you offered.
Historically, this is precisely why the OSI first formed in 1998, i.e. they liked the engineering methodology, but they felt that the fact that the Free Software Foundation was literally founded for purposes of social justice wasn't very saleable to the business world.
All of these is a pretty well-worn argument, and ethics in software design remains a current topic today, e.g. https://neveragain.tech - I would not expect them to stop at any point.
- d.