On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 10:39 AM, Patrick Anderson <[email protected]> wrote:
The effectiveness of collective bargaining has always been threatened by independent peers who are willing to accept lower wages and endure poor working conditions.
Study the phenomenon of sourceforge.net during the time of the Internet boom of the late 1990's and early 2000's and how open-source popularity got co-opted mostly by the legal system, big companies like Microsoft, and dubious notions of "intellectual property"; collectively, they effectively retro-graded the free Internet into little fiefdoms and walled gardens we have today. Then look at yourself: are you using a free operating system? or have you gotten seduced by Apple (for ex.)? Read the essays at the Free Software Foundation by Richard Stallman to see how the GPL has been specifically battle-hardened to avoid these traps. Also, the E.F.F. -- review J. P. Barlow's Declaration of Internet Freedom to remind yourself that the power of the Internet still lies waiting. Give money. They remain true to the vision and haven't sold out like the others. Never mind if Stallman seems eccentric or E.F.F. seems like a ghost town -- these are people doing real work and don't have energy to spend "flashing it up" for you. (....then look at pangaia.sf.net to see a long-term solution ;) Marcos