At the US border

David J Patrick davidjpatrick-rieW9WUcm8FFJ04o6PK0Fg at public.gmane.org
Tue Oct 3 12:14:46 UTC 2006


On 02/10/06, Jamon Camisso <jamon.camisso-H217xnMUJC0sA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> Which is more ethical: switching new users over to GNU/Linux, with said
> large gain in ethical and ideological awareness across as large a body
> of people as possible (hypothesized on my part based on those I've
> converted); or spending all my time ensuring my actions are in
> accordance with an extremely rigid set of ethics that prevent me from
> spending time converting potential users? No easy answer there, though I
> obviously opt for the first.

IMHO, if we held to the letter of RMSs noble cause, OSS adoption would
stop dead in its tracks. The unwashed and uninitiated masses really
couldn't give a crap about this stuff, as they have been happily using
pirated software for as long as they can remember. It is only after a
user has really experienced the joys of Free Software, that they
slowly come around to look at the philosophy behind it. If they can't
play a DVD nor .mp3, if their video card Just Won't Work, then the
whole issue is MOOT ! They would turn their backs in a flash, and
never come back. We must (again, IMHO) continue to make linux easy,
fun, and Just Work. Deep thinkers (like us ;-) will ruminate on the
fiberous issues, and quietly fix them. Eventually the two positions
will merge without conflict. Untill then, We can continue to respect
RMSs position,  while breaking any rule that allows another convert.

djp

(everybody sing)
Free the Software, Free the software
When we have enough Software,
and Open driver support,
and recognized Free codecs,
Then we will all be Free
LaLaLa !
etc


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