On Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 8:02 AM, Luke -Jr <
luke@dashjr.org> wrote:
On Thursday 13 March 2008, Leo Mauler wrote:
> Note the lack of quotation marks around my own words
> in the phrase "Luke-Jr ... regards 'ndiswrapper' as a
> kind of apostasy" (the one above, obviously not this
> one). "Apostasy" generally means "becoming immoral"
> or "adopting immoral behaviors" (both of which aren't
> that much different from the strict dictionary
> definition, "leaving one's religion").
Well, it looks like in this case you are only to blame for taking past tense
as present, though I am as much to blame for having voiced such in the past
and not remembering to correct them afterward.
> I pretty much nailed your exact opinion of
> "ndiswrapper", which you revealed during a KCLUG list
> discussion from December 2005 to January 2006, "Linux
> on older laptops"
To revise my opinion, because it is indeed merely an opinion, I will state for
the record:
- I have no authority to speak on morality myself (only cite such authority).
- - Therefore, unless someone with authority judges proprietary software to be
immoral, I cannot assert it is.
- - - Therefore, ndiswrapper is not inherently immoral.
- ndiswrapper in fact adds support for NDIS, apparently an open standard for
network drivers, to Linux
- Since most NDIS drivers are proprietary and thus GPL-incompatible, this NDIS
layer can be used (abused?) to legally bypass the GPL.