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How quickly you forget history, or how incompletely you learned it.
I'm very much pro-FOSS, but your argument is factually incorrect. Microsoft is NOT like communism. Sure, they behave in a totalitarian and occasionally oppressive manner, but google Pinochet, Franco, Mussolini, and Hitler. I'm sure you'll find them all as abhorrent as you find Stalin, Pol Pot, Castro, and Mao Tse-Tung, and you'll find that the particular line of garbage they spouted was different, but their methods were almost indistinguishable.

The argument, then, should be one of totalitarianism versus representative democracy, and on that spectrum, FOSS usually, though not always, comes out favorably. There is a certain socialist undercurrent to FOSS, though this is becoming moderated as more people switch to FOSS. That is an inescapable consequence of it. However, socialism, while impractical and ineffective on the macro scale, can work on this scale with the proper safeguards.
Posted by: MageOfChaos   Posted on: 12/20/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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This is the great thing about open source. Nobody can silence anybody.  DonnieBoy | 12/19/06
hmm  hopefulcoder | 12/19/06
You have communism vs. capitalism reversed  archerjoe | 12/19/06
See my posts below, MS is like communism where all debate is forbidden.  DonnieBoy | 12/19/06
How quickly you forget history, or how incompletely you learned it.  MageOfChaos | 12/20/06
DonnieBoy, you have communism and totalitarianism mixed up..  mdsmedia | 12/20/06
Whatever you call Debian..  mdsmedia | 12/20/06
Then those who buy it  Boot_Agnostic | 12/23/06
If you say so  Boot_Agnostic | 12/19/06
Information Minister  perryroyce@... | 12/19/06
Right, the people at MS are like the Iraqi information minister. Pretending  DonnieBoy | 12/19/06
And your?  Boot_Agnostic | 12/20/06
No. He's just  John Zern | 12/21/06
Friendly suggestion:  MageOfChaos | 12/20/06
Friendly suggestion, Mage happy  mdsmedia | 12/20/06
Guernica  mhenriday | 12/20/06
Hey, come on, bashing MS is fun, we enjoy it. But the ARE communists, they  DonnieBoy | 12/19/06
You are labeling as if you decide for others the label  Boot_Agnostic | 12/19/06
Right, communists may not like the label, but, as they say, if the shoe  DonnieBoy | 12/19/06
Others have labeled you things  Boot_Agnostic | 12/20/06
DonnieBoy, the difference is...  mdsmedia | 12/20/06
Oy to the world, the migraine's come.  MageOfChaos | 12/20/06
Debian delayed as contributors get grouchy  Loverock Davidson | 12/19/06
If keeping a few developers happy and on track is tough  THEE WOLF | 12/19/06
Pretty much agree  Loverock Davidson | 12/19/06
This is like the volunteers for Habitat for Humanity getting POed that  DonnieBoy | 12/19/06
Not really  Loverock Davidson | 12/19/06
The first year that Linux stops growing, let us know.  DonnieBoy | 12/19/06
Well, that'll never happen  John Zern | 12/21/06
You might have a point if...  bpolhemus@... | 12/19/06
I do have a point  Loverock Davidson | 12/19/06
Linux is not fading away yet. It has been gaining each and every year.  DonnieBoy | 12/19/06
Sure it is  Loverock Davidson | 12/19/06
Just like the US is destroying itself. Here in the US, we have free and  DonnieBoy | 12/19/06
What, the land of the free?  Loverock Davidson | 12/19/06
This article is about freedom, we are contrasting that with Microsoft.  DonnieBoy | 12/19/06
sorry to rain on your parade. . .  reugen | 12/20/06
Bright and sunny over here  Loverock Davidson | 12/20/06
Comparison MORON!!!  mdsmedia | 12/20/06
And when Etch is delivered....  mdsmedia | 12/20/06
Why not pay the individual developers  THEE WOLF | 12/19/06
As time goes on, more developers will get paid. But, this is all very  DonnieBoy | 12/19/06
It is communism vs freedom we are talking about here.  DonnieBoy | 12/19/06
You mean you are talking about. (NT)  3D0G | 12/20/06
What does...  Joe Dufflebag | 12/20/06
That's because  nomorems | 12/20/06
Seems to me...  3D0G | 12/20/06
He should return the money.  enduser_z | 12/20/06
A modest proposal  mhenriday | 12/20/06
LOOK!! HE MENTIONS ME!!  Loverock Davidson | 12/20/06
Hear hear.  MageOfChaos | 12/20/06
Welcome to open source  dick lechter | 12/20/06
Ohh yeah...just like democracy...  mdsmedia | 12/20/06
Some people who live in Democratic...  mdsmedia | 12/20/06
Wrong, its a religion, you're fanatics  Boot_Agnostic | 12/23/06

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