These comments are from Richard "RMS" Stallman, the founder of the Free Software
Foundation. -FN

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From: "Richard M. Stallman" <rms@...>
Date: 2005/10/13 Thu AM 10:21:39 GMT+05:30
To: fred@...
Subject: Re: Free and Open Source Software: A Blind Alley for Developing
Countries? [With a comment added by FN]

The author's bias shows clearly in his willingness to disregard facts
in favor of his prejudice. For instance, he says that free software
developers can't be persistent, even though we already have been. It
shows even in his choice of terminology, such as "proprietary
players". Clearly he started from the intention to say something
nasty about free software.

I suggest people search for ties between the authors of this report
and Microsoft. Microsoft frequently funds the production of such
reports. That doesn't prove it funded this one, but we have good
reason to suspect it, so it would be nice to look for proof.

Meanwhile, the report's conclusion is worse than just mistaken. True
development _requires_ free software, because using proprietary
software is not development. It is electronic colonization, in which
the poor country is pushed into a state of increased dependency on
exports from a few rich countries.
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