Subj : Re: GNU Public Licences Revisited (again) To : comp.programming From : Gerry Quinn Date : Wed Aug 31 2005 11:58 am In article , suralis-s@mtu-net.ru says... > Gerry Quinn wrote: > > > Would you care to give examples of such freedoms? > > 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:) Unfortunately that also applies in some economic sectors (civil service, teaching, etc.) in many Western countries. > 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:) The age effect probably applies everywhere! (I often think that it is probably less where life is dangerous, though, because instead of saying "I got older" you can say "I survived".) But these are really issues of absence of strict law enforcement - it is not unique to communism I assure you... > 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:( Deserting a sinking ship doesn't make you a rat. - Gerry Quinn .