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LUG Pres Resigns Over Military Linux Use

Posted by timothy on from the forget-about-military-oxygen-use dept.

Joe Barr writes "NewsForge is carrying the news that the founder and president of Linux Users Los Angeles (LULA) has resigned because of his opposition to the war in Iraq and the U.S. Armed Forces' use of Linux."

6 of 1,361 comments (clear)

  1. Restrictions on who can use GPL'd software? by EngrBohn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seems to me the guy's complaining about a primary aspect of the GPL -- that there are no restriction as to who can use the software.

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    cb
    Oooh! What does this button do!?
  2. This is what the GPL tries to combat! by kink · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This person is mixing up a specific political view with the use of free software. The good thing about free software is that there can be no restrictions on who may use it. I do not neccessarily agree with the war on Iraq, but limiting software licences to those who agree with my standpoint would be a bad way to express my opinion. There are many other ways to do that. Plus, if this would become common practice, we'd have to prepare ourselves for a hard time. Checking for all software you use whether the author included some kind of usage constraint would be very tedious. Imagine the situation where for example the Apache Group would say: "we're pro the war on Iraq, so who's against can not use our webserver to promote that standpoint". Very undesireable of course. Please don't mix up politics and free software.

  3. Re:Blaming the tool again... by smittyoneeach · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Piling on, I would still like to understand the difference between the Demicans and the Republocrats.
    One party strives for power, the other lusts after it, near I can tell.
    Both are meatpuppets for rich interests, while feigning populism.
    Gimme Jesse the Body in '08.

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  4. Wow. by MartinG · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Look at all the vigourous debate about linux, about licensing, and about the war has been generated here as a result of hit resignation.

    I think he achieved his aim very well indeed.

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    -- MartinG To mail me: echo kewyjlcxyzvjfxbqwh | tr bcefhjklqvwxyz .@adgimnoprstu
  5. Maine and Nebraska do proportional delegations by bee · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Maine and Nebraska in fact do something other than the 'winner take all' that the other 48 states do. They tally up the votes in each congressional district, and the winner in each district gets one delegate. Then the overall totals for the whole state are added up, and the winner there gets two more delegates.

    However, Maine only has 2 districts (4 electoral votes) and Nebraska 3 districts (5 evs), so in practice it doesn't really matter much, but I wish more states followed this system. Unfortunately, states that tend one way or another wouldn't want to switch to this system, since it'd hurt the candidate that's more popular in that state (California wouldn't want to take 20 or so of its 55 and hand them to Bush, e.g.), and states that are battlegrounds would be less of a battleground under this system, and thus would get less political attention. Nice idea, nevertheless.

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    At least mafia-owned pizzarias make excellent pizza. Compare to Bill Gates.
  6. Re:Blaming the tool again... by Shadowin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There's something to be said when a vote in one state counts more than a vote in another. Namely, there is no equality under the law.