[LIG] Re: [FSF India] Re: WB Govt ties up with MSFT

[Raju Mathur]

Khuzaima,

While I agree that freedom is the most important facet of Free
Software, I deliberately omitted mentioning it in the letter.  If you
notice, I have tried to stay away from any of the following:

- Controversial issues (e.g. MS' ongoing court case(s))
- Un-verifiable data
- Philosophy
- Opinions

The idea was to create a document which would present hard facts which
cannot be debated away.  Philosophy and opinions, by definition, are
debatable, and I had no intention of letting anyone use one single
point in the document as a lever to draw attention away from the
others and make the whole exercise meaningless.

Regards,

-- Raju

>>>>> "Khuzaima" == Khuzaima A Lakdawala <klak@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in> writes:

    Khuzaima> Raju Mathur <raju@linux-delhi.org> writes:
    >> Here's a prototype letter which can be sent to any State
    >> government which plans to tie-up with MS for e-governance.  I
    >> am making it as general-purpose as possible so that more people
    >> are willing to sign it: this is not a time for family
    >> squabbles.  I'd appreciate any additions/enhancements which can
    >> be made to this letter.

    Khuzaima> This otherwise well-crafted draft letter is incomplete
    Khuzaima> if it does not mention the most important point about
    Khuzaima> Free Software, namely FREEDOM. After all, it is being
    Khuzaima> written to a democratically elected State Government and
    Khuzaima> the "Right to Freedom" is a fundamental right enshrined
    Khuzaima> in our Constitution; in particular, article 19, Freedom
    Khuzaima> of Speech and Expression.

    Khuzaima> [snip]

-- 
Raju Mathur          raju@kandalaya.org           http://kandalaya.org/