Re: GNOME and the free software movement

[Richard Stallman <rms gnu org>]

    > In general, a free program that runs in a completely free system is a
    > contribution to freedom; but GNOME is special: it was launched
    > specifically to defend our freedom.  We stated GNOME to blunt the
    > danger of the (then) non-free QT library.  I think most GNOME users
    > and developers today are not aware of this.

    While I'm completely aware of these details, I don't think one should
    need to use that as an argument anymore.  GNOME could have been started
    just because someone didn't like KDE and still have the same goals and
    targets that it has today.

Is the history of GNOME relevant to how we think about GNOME today?
To say "the past is unimportant, because the future is what counts" is
a consistent position.  Then we could still argue that GNOME should
promote the ideals of free software because that is the right thing to
do.

But there is also something to be gained by keeping alive the memory
of those who strove to establish freedom and succeeded.  GNOME is one
example.  Perhaps what we should conclude is that this example's
relevance is not limited to GNOME.