On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 15:33:24 +0000, tim hall <tech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Last Tuesday 14 December 2004 06:31, Lee Revell was like: > > Christ, what the fuck country do you live in? > > Non-US ;-) > > > Don't you understand the > > concept of people having bills to pay? Or do you just assume the RME > > guys are independenly wealthy and just design sound cards for fun? > > Absolute nonsense. We pay bills because we have a duty to do so, yes. > we pay taxes > so that some services can be provided cooperatively. Technically, no. We pay them because it's the law. If there was any other reason we'd decend into a discussion about how much tax to pay to coopretively provide the services that matter to each of us and the system wouldn't work. We elect officials to make decisions about how much tax and what to spend it on. > As I said earlier we > needn't be naive about market forces, however, if we make that our number one > priority over providing goods and services where they are needed, then we are > lost. Unless you are speaking of a govenment run (communist) program here how can goods and services EVER be provided without market forces promoting them? Even Marek's plea, down underneath, pines for a market driven force to stop buying anything from RME unless they bend to the will of this collective group. > And you are involved with Linux because ...? Not sure I am involved (you were speaking to Lee who clearly is) but my reasons are: 1) It's free 2) Lists like this are fun. > > Nobody is saying that the RME guys should do it for free. Everyone deserves a > living out of what they do best, unfortunately it comes easier to some than > others. We do need to hone our financial arguments and business strategy to > encourage manufacturers to support Free Software, we need to be polite and > consider things from their perspective. We do not have to condone a culture > of greed. Well said and fair enough. Now, what do we do? Just because they are not releasing this information does not mean it's being done out of 'greed'. AFAICT it wasn't until Paul and I wrote our posts that we were even able to draw RME into a discussion about why they might think it's not in their best interests to release this info. My thought is that we need to study these responses, and maybe study the structure of RME, and then formulate a strategy to get them to reevaluate this decision. (Should that be of interest to more then 3-5 people. > > There is a very different feeling in Europe around the word 'socialism'. We > have experienced Socialist governments, which bear little or no similarity to > the Communism of the late USSR or China. Democratic Socialist governments > have actually proved rather easier to live under than Democratic Capitalism. > Socialism is desperately boring, doesn't provide all the answers by any means > and I wouldn't normally defend it, Socialists can be just as ignorant about > Patent issues (amongst other things) as Capitalists. It's the kind of > mindless truisms offerred above that I object to. (actually, Marek ;). Stick > to subjects you understand please. I cannot speak to this. Probably history will at some future date when none of us are hear to read about it. > > with respect Clearly. > > tim hall > http://glastonburymusic.org.uk > Cheers, Mark >
