On Thursday 19 Mar 2009, V. Sasi Kumar wrote:
[snip] Having said that, let me say that I don't agree that the issue of software freedom is totally insignificant. It is important because the government is beginning computerise its work. And in that, transparency and security are important factors. There, the use of proprietary software could compromise various things that could affect not just some elites but everyone. Therefore, I believe, software freedom has a place, though not as high a place as food and health.
As noted earlier, that was a digression, and I don't really know if this is the right forum to continue this debate (but am doing so anyway :) . If I had to restate my point in a more palatable fashion, (speaking purely for myself), I'd happily vote for party FOO who had introduction of software patents and banishment of all FOSS in its manifesto, as long as they promised to rescind the TRIPS clauses related to agricultural and pharmaceutical patents. In my scale of things (and in yours too I bet!), lack of freedom in agri and pharma nullifies even perfect freedom in any intangible field, e.g. software, music or books.
Note that this is a moving target: as India (and Indians) grow more wealthy, the relative importance of food and drugs vs software and music keeps declining. When all 1.2 billion of us have enough food and adequate health care, software will be the overriding battle to be fought; until then, I will try to keep my outlook a bit wider.
Of course, all this is hypothetical and we can keep discussing this endlessly, so, while I look forward to your response(s), no more from me on this subject :)
Regards,
-- Raju