We know you must have questions. Some will be intended to solve a problem of honest confusion. Some will of course be related to trying to figure out the who, what, when, why, and how that are not directly related to the core of this website. Some will be rhetorical, intended to make some kind of point about how you think we're nuts, or evil, or maybe just annoying. We'll try to answer these questions here — even the rhetorical questions.
Our aim is not to trick anyone into anything, but to help people become informed participants in their own ethical decisions and to aid in the defense of their own intellectual freedom. We're here to shine a light on what has been obscured by fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
Well, that, and to have fun saying what's on our minds without self-censoring. We know this will make enemies for us. There's no denying that. We're picking a fight on two fronts. It's liberating, knowing we absolutely will not make everyone happy — or, for that matter, even a sizable minority. There's no need to worry about alienating anyone because we already know we'll alienate almost everyone. We'd prefer you join us as allies, but we're happy enough pissing you off instead if you're simply unwilling to see our side. One is better judged by the quality of one's enemies than the quantity of one's friends.
If you have any questions that are not answered here, or elsewhere on the website, you may submit them to us using the
Contact Page. Without further ado, here are the questions and answers:
- What's wrong with you? Do you just hate FLOSS?
- See the quote at the top of Ogre's statement on the About Us page. This isn't about hating the ideal, but about opposing the rot that has grown at its heart.
- Doesn't all the good Richard Stallman and the FSF have done account for something? Why don't you give them a free pass?
- What the FSF has done in the past has helped, in some cases despite its best efforts. This is undeniable. The time has come, however, for a separate direction from the FSF. If we, the FLOSS community, cannot separate ourselves from the GPL and the organization that overzealously promotes and enforces it, our ideals will suffer for our failure. It doesn't matter whether they did well in the past if they do ill to match it in the future. By analogy, if someone saved your life yesterday, it does not give that person the right to take your life tomorrow.
- Don't you think Richard Stallman and the FSF mean well? They're just trying to do good — right? Why not cut 'em some slack?
- We wouldn't accept a law from the government which created a potential for abuse by organizations of authority (at least, not without protest) and we refuse to accept a license which creates a similar potential for abuse — no matter how benign the organization behind the license claims to be.
- Are you stupid?
- In point of fact, no, we are not. Some of us, in fact, have failed to gain entrance to Mensa only because of laziness — specifically, not bothering to do the paperwork, even after the entrance requirements are met. We're pretty smart. There must be some other reason you don't like our ideas.
- Are you Microsoft shills?
- Never. There are those among us who have declared publicly and at some length our opposition to the form of governmental interference in the economy that is embodied in corporate law. If Microsoft vanished from the face of the planet, we'd be quite happy — especially if, without that "Great Satan" to fight, the Free Software Foundation's mismanaged crusade collapsed.
- Are you communists?
- That's a difficult question to answer, because we don't check party affiliations at the door. The founders, at least, are not — Ogre and Ren are both free market capitalists, with emphasis on "free". It's the Free Software Foundation that espouses ideals reminiscent of collectivist left-wing political philosophy, if not by its statements then at least by its practices and the ultimate effects of its license, the GPL.
- Are you insane?
- Check the quote at the top of the About Us page. We'll leave the final determination to you.