Subj : Re: GNU Public Licences Revisited (again)
To   : comp.programming
From : Rob Thorpe
Date : Tue Aug 30 2005 09:10 am

Serge Skorokhodov (216716244) wrote:
> Gerry Quinn wrote:
>
> >>> I don't believe you want to leave anything more than a
> >>> skeletal and effectively useless remnant of IP, rather as
> >>> communist states left a skeletal and effectively useless
> >>> pretence of freedom.
> >>
> >> Be carefully about comparing various countries' freedoms:) I
> >> believe that you are informed (I would even say
> >> indoctrinated) about many ways the Soviet were not free
> >> compared to the American. Still I do believe you know
> >> nothing about many freedoms the Soviets did enjoy while the
> >> American didn't even imagine its possible:). I just can
> >> compare all pros and cons:).
> >
> >
> > Would you care to give examples of such freedoms?
>
> Sure:)
>
> Just imagine that you can really be fired, for example:)
> Practically, if one isn't involved in politics and setting cases
> of real serious professional incompetence aside, there used to be
> no reason to be afraid of losing one's job:)
>
> If you are not aimed at military controlled areas, you can move
> around without any "Private property. No trespassing!" signs.
> Canada is much better than the US in this respect, but still...
>
> Ill-famed KGB was actually a joke compared with tax authorities
> in the US or Canada:) I couldn't even imagine what a real
> surveillance is:)
>
> Actually, when I was young (I'm 48 now) my life was much more
> fun. Well, it was expensive to get a decent fishing tackle. But
> it was much easier to find plenty of quality fishing time:)
>
> Yes, we were not well off. But I wouldn't say that most people
> lack freedom rather than more material stuff, I'm sorry to say:(
>
> > One objective distinguishing feature might be which countries
> > build walls to keep people out, and which countries build
> > walls to keep people in.
>
> Actually, the end of the USSR has rather little to do with
> freedom. It has a lot to do with sausage though. Economically it
> was a disaster:( Most people try to get to America for simple
> economical reasons and just cover this simple motive with
> "freedom" word.
>
> Personally, I respect only two groups of people that benefit from
> the fall of the soviet empire. First, it is those who couldn't
> realize their potential in the soviet system. Second, those who
> need free information exchange. These were major drawbacks of the
> soviet system. Unfortunately, most people go to the West for
> other reasons:(

Remember you experienced the Soviet system from within Russia, the
ruling state.  This is rather like experiencing the British empire from
Britain.

.