"rights" and "freedoms"

[Ben_Tilly at trepp.com]

(Mailing list trimmed.)

> On Thu, Oct 14, 1999 at 01:30:05PM -0700, L. Peter Deutsch wrote:
>
> > That's the issue in a nutshell.  The Free Software movement verges on taking
> > the position that the only legitimate way for programmers to make money is
> > to provide services.
>
> You're being a little extreme here. I don't think the FSF ever said that
> non-free programming was illegitimate.
>
I am sorry, but I have images dancing through my head of bastard
programs...

> Also, hardly any programmers have any right to receive royalties derived
> from the works they create. It's very rare. The vast majority of programmers
> exchange a programming service for a regular paycheque, and grant all rights
> to their work to the company that pays them.

More than that.  Something like 90% of programmers are working on
software for internal company use only.  How is free software going to
take away these jobs?

Now excuse me while I track down a data quality issue in an internal
database...

Sincerely,
Ben