RE: GPL & commercial software, the critical distinction (fwd)

[Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>]

At 2:37 PM -0400 on 10/4/98, James A. Donald wrote:

> To the best of my observation, every single small business is
> operating illegally.

Amen. Literally.

That is, when the church ruled our lives, it was impossible not to be
sinning for some reason.

These days, the state rules our lives, and we're all breaking the law.

Most criminologists will tell that the more corrupt the jurisdiction, the
harder it is to be in compliance with the law. That way, it's easier for
the state's functionaries to shake you down.

Ayn Rand has a great quote about this, which I have long forgotten, but my
favorite bit of impromptu wisdom on the subject is from Vinnie Moscaritolo,
who blurted out one night, on a long climb up Page Mill road, "'If we could
just pass a few more laws', we could all be criminals!"


Also, Voltaire was famous for saying, in French of course :-), 'death to la
infame' (le? I took latin instead, and was bad at it, anyway.). By la
infame, "the infamous thing", he meant the church, of course. While it
probably sounds a little haughtier than "smash the state", (or, as I am
wont say, *surfact* the state ;-)), Voltaire's saying, in the original,
might make a nice slogan to, um, resurrect, if someone wants to dust off
their college french and do the honors...

Odd thing for a man to say who was buried in the floor of a church anyway.
It'd be like putting Mr. Young in Arlington, or something. ;-).

Cheers,
Bob Hettinga
-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@philodox.com>
Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'