Tread lightly on the things of earth

I’m trying to figure out deep down where I stand philosophically on free software. Specifically, I want to identify which of the various free-software licenses aligns best with my values. (I’m a mad stickler for internal congruence.)

On the one hand, I’m a big proponent of GNU; Richard Stallman’s unwavering commitment to freedom as embodied in the GPL appeals to me. (I’m especially influenced at the moment as I’m reading Stallman’s essays in Free Software, Free Society, which came with my FSF associate membership.) Accordingly, I’m a long-time fan of Debian GNU/Linux and an emerging fan of Gentoo Linux. On the other hand …

I’m also a fan of the simplicity and, apparently, the altruism embodied in the modified BSD license (under General). BSD licensing suits my nature as a behind-the-scenes contributor who’s happiest when I light up people’s faces anonymously. Accordingly, I’m also a big fan of NetBSD and now, Mac OS X, which is a free BSD (Darwin)-plus-commercial software hybrid.

Today I see that Daring Fireball’s John Gruber interviews Brent Simmons, the mostly-Mac programmer and creator of NetNewsWire, a Mac OS X news aggregator. Excellent thoughts! Maybe Brent is hitting my philosophical bullseye with this:

I agree that open source and closed source can coexist within the same projects. NetNewsWire is an example of that. Mac OS X is sort of an example … there’s a lot of mix there, lots of open source, lots of commercial software. I think that’s a good thing, if for no other reason than diverse ecosystems tend to be healthier.

What I’d like to see is less zealotry from all corners. Open source is good, shareware is good, commercial software is good. It all comes down to good apps, using the right tool for the job. I prefer less ideology and more generosity. For me, Mac OS X is the only OS that seems to have in its DNA that spirit.

Less zealotry, less ideology, more generosity. Yes. That sounds like where I’m at, man.

Thanks, Brent and John.

Next up: BBEdit, GNU Emacs, or XEmacs? :-)