> Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 11:32:30 -0500 > From: Sam MacDonald <smac at visi.com> > Standing up for what one believes in is very important. If we don't our > conscience will drive us crazy. Sam, I agree with you 100% that standing up for your beliefs is important. I haven't seen anything on this list that questions that. It's just that this item is a non-story. Someone stepped down from a group of self-involved geeks... and he also doesn't like what our country did in Iraq. So what? Do you think Linux should be restricted as to who uses it and how? I don't. And even if I did, I cannot imagine any way to do that now that it has already been released under the GPL. Mr. Claiborne wrote that he is distancing himself from "an insular collection of geeks that can get along just fine without me." That will probably make life better for both him and the group. He seems to forget that while the "Mr. Smiths" of the world have Linux, so do we, and what a better tool to have than that? He said in an interview that he thinks the issue of military use of Linux needs a vigorous debate. I don't agree with him, and I hope I don't have to participate in one, save this: I believe that ANY restriction on its use cannot be fair or just. He even states that his stepping down has "nothing directly" to do with his stance on the Iraq war. But if his stepping down does indeed get him to focus his "energy around things that matter more" then the world will be a better place. People do this kind of thing every day. Most of them deserve more press than Mr. Claiborne got. Chris Schumann _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list