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Oh, I have no objection to the open discussion of the issues involved, I simply don't think Mr Clemens shows much awareness of the role of open-source software.

Open-source software certainly has some positive aspects. But I think that you're ignoring the "role of open-source software" as it applies to negative [militaristic] use (i.e. China, North Korea) -- and the entire subculture of folks who write it based upon some illusion of fame.

And you've raised the whole "downloading Perl lets the Chinese buy more torture-chambers" argument before, and it still doesn't wash with me.

It's simple economics. It doesn't really matter whether you buy into it. The Chinese need to build their computing infrastructure. If you help them, they conserve more resources for other purposes.

Because Microsoft is persuing the Chinese market quite aggessively; you could equally argue that every time Microsoft offers a deep discount, they also free up money for more electric cattle prods.

I agree. And, as I pointed out in my previous post, I think this is a horrible practice. We shouldn't be trading with murderous dictators. "Opening up" their economies never translates into improved human rights. Why won't we ever learn this lesson? [Answer: Because we, as a culture, don't care. We want our cheap rubber dogsh*t from China]