Freedom is not Free for Countries nor Computer Users
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Today is the day that the United States of America celebrates Independence Day. We declared ourselves free from England's rule and started a Revolution to create a country based on truly revolutionary ideals. The ideal that all people are created equal in the sight of God and no one is above another in God's eyes. The ideal that people have unalienable rights given to them from God, not from government. The ideal that people have the right to abolish an out of control, despotic government to replace it with one more amenable to the people. These unprecedented ideals had never been set forth in writing to form any other nation until the beginning of the United States of America. Yes, we did win our freedom but it was not freely given to us. Men pledged "… to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." and went to war to win this freedom.
To remain free we in the USA still must be ever watchful of government, maintain a standing military and keep up with advancing military practices and hardware. We must all be educated in the ideals laid out by our country's founders. We must all learn how our government should work and make sure it does not fall into fascism or despotism. We must make certain that our Constitution is not diluted and sullied by those who loathe it for the restrictions it places on their ambitions of power and control. Thus our freedom comes at a price and these are the costs of having that freedom.
Is it correct to compare the freedom of Free Open Source Software (FOSS) to the freedom gained from the Revolution of the States? In some ways it is not. No one has yet had to die in a war to win freedom to use FOSS. As far as I know God does not guarantee any unalienable rights for free software. But in other ways the comparison is appropriate. Some people have to give their time, talent, and in some cases money to create free software for everyone to use. These people are the founders, the statesmen and the warriors that give us all the opportunity to have and to use FOSS. This is one cost of FOSS. Then there are "we the people" the users of free software. These users must take the time to study, learn to use and share their knowledge of the FOSS that is so generously created and given by others. This is the cost of having FOSS for the end-user.
True freedom requires one to make an effort to be liberated and to stay liberated. Therefore freedom is not free. Even though freedom has a cost it is always worth the price in this author's humble opinion.
Go there...http://blog.eracc.com/2009/07/04/freedom-is-not-free-for-countries-nor-computer-users/
Don
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