Stallman分析微软Codeplex意图及对自由软件的影响

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Stallman分析微软Codeplex意图及对自由软件的影响
RMS大叔的blog原文在
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/microsoft-codeplex-foundation

以下信息来自 自由软件基金会 Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:33:16 -0400 的邮件列表，原标题为[FSF] Microsoft's Codeplex Foundation

由于个人精力、水平有限，只节选并意译、介绍某些关键句子(红色字体) 如下：

CodePlex follows the same practice. Its stated goal is to convince
"commercial software companies" to contribute more to "open source".
Since nearly all open source programs are also free software, these
programs will probably be free, but the "open source" philosophy doesn't
teach developers to defend their freedom. If they don't understand the
importance of this freedom, developers may succumb to Microsoft's ploys
encouraging them to use weaker licenses that are vulnerable to "embrace
and extend" or patent co-optation, and to make free software dependent
on proprietary platforms.

意译：如果开发者不理解软件自由的重要性，他们或许会被误导，以致使用脆弱的、非自由的软件协议，使自由软件依赖于私有软件平台。

This confusion is a serious problem because it falsely claims free
software business to be impossible. Many software companies already
contribute to free software, and these commercial contributions are
quite useful. Perhaps Microsoft would like people to assume these facts
are impossible.

Based on these facts, we can see that CodePlex will encourage developers
not to think about freedom. It will subtly spread the idea that free
software business is impossible without the support of a proprietary
software company like Microsoft. However, it may convince some
proprietary software companies to release additional free software. Will
that be a contribution to computer users' freedom?

意译：微软将借此巧妙地传播“没有私有软件公司的支持，自由软件商业不可能存在”的理念。

Sam Ramji, now president of CodePlex, said a few months ago that
Microsoft (then his employer) wanted to promote development of free
applications that encourage use of Microsoft Windows
(http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3811941). Perhaps the
aim of CodePlex is to suborn free software application developers into
making Windows their main platform. Many of the projects hosted now on
codeplex.com are add-ons for proprietary software. These programs are
caught in a trap similar to the former Java Trap (see
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/java-trap.html).

意译：建立CodePlex的目的可能是收买自由软件开发者将Windows作为他们的主要开发平台，让自由软件成私有软件的附属品。

That would be harmful if it succeeds, because a program that doesn't run
(or doesn't run well) in the Free World does not contribute to our
freedom. A non-free program takes away its users' freedom. To avoid
being harmed in that way, we need to reject proprietary system platforms
as well as proprietary applications. CodePlex free add-ons to a
proprietary base increase society's dependence on that base -- the
opposite of what we need.

意译：运行在非自由环境上的自由软件，对我们的自由没有贡献、没有好处。我们必需拒绝私有软件系统，一如拒绝使用私有软件、私有函数库。

（商业软件和私有软件的区别 见 http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Commercial）

If the CodePlex Foundation wishes to be a real contributor to the free
software community, it must not aim at free add-ons to non-free
packages. It needs to encourage development of portable software capable
of running on free platforms based on GNU/Linux and other free operating
systems. If it tries to seduce us into going in the opposite direction,
we must make sure to refuse.

意译：如果CodePlex基金会真的想对自由软件社区做贡献，他不应该将自由软件当作非自由软件的附属品。他应该鼓励软件开发人员为自由软件平台，如GNU/Linux，开发软件。