Re: [Mingw-users] Fwd: UWIN Licensing

[Soren A. <so...@wo...>]

On Wed, 22 Nov 2000 John van V. wrote  Re: [Mingw-users] Fwd: UWIN Licensing

> At that point I will have a GNU blessed MinGW product, and I will be as
> happy as a, well, pig in sh*t.

> GNU/Win32 is such a slap in the face for Microsoft, it ~has~ to win !!

I hope it isn't wrong for me to chime in here. I agree with this. MinGW is 
really *subversive* in the best sense of the word -- taking M$' own run-
times as the basis for creating applications that run well on Wins yet don't 
have their "birth" in the Ur-vile laboratories of Microsoft's development 
products [ ref. to literature: "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" by 
Stephen R. Donaldson ].

For me, it isn't about "religiously" hating Microsoft or about baiting those 
who are partisans of its realm -- as benighted as I know them to be ;-). 
What MinGW does is (quietly) show that enslaved beings can rise up and 
turn the tools of their abject bondage into a part of the means of their 
emancipation. Ideally, ultimately, many of those who initially hear about 
MinGW and perhaps use it will find themselves in a position to embrace 
Free Software in a thorough-going way. It's like building a transient 
platform for a future leap into a different realm. MinGW's role can be 
ambassadorial (if there is such a word). It causes a paradigm shift to begin, 
for some of those who learn that Windows apps CAN be created using other 
than commercial (esp. M$) tools. It rocks people's worlds, in the vernacular.

John, I am glad you are on board with MinGW and all the best to you 
(we've met in context of NYpm meetings or related, in the City).

   soren andersen