Free Software Magazine: Is Free Software "Communist"? Maybe Yes...

"Some prominent people have called free software 'communist' in an attempt to bring Cold War bugaboos to bear against the movement--a kind of 'nuclear option' of FUD. I remember the paranoia of the Cold War personally, and I thought then (and I still do now) that it was 'just stupid.'

"So rather than react as some have done with a knee-jerk 'no it's not!', I propose to accept the label and see where that insight takes us. Maybe there is something communist about free software? I think we will see, however, that the idea behind free software is far more radical: no less 'communist' than 'capitalist,' but no more so, either..."

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