1 |
Mike Lundy <novas007@×××.net> posted 200608161801.43378.novas007@×××.net, |
2 |
excerpted below, on Wed, 16 Aug 2006 18:01:37 -0700: |
3 |
|
4 |
Mike Lundy <novas007@×××.net> posted 200608161801.43378.novas007@×××.net, |
5 |
excerpted below, on Wed, 16 Aug 2006 18:01:37 -0700: |
6 |
|
7 |
> I strive to be logical about this, and as un-inflammatory as |
8 |
> possible. If you are going to respond, please make the same effort[.] |
9 |
|
10 |
Likewise. I consider flamewars a waste of time, but healthy debate a |
11 |
chance to learn something. |
12 |
|
13 |
> I told a friend that there were some in the community who called |
14 |
> proprietary software slaveryware. His response? "Holy shit!" If that |
15 |
> term spreads, we can forget about convincing otherwise logical people |
16 |
> that free software is the Right Way. There are two problems with it: |
17 |
> |
18 |
> 1) It's incorrect. There is nothing at this point in time that causes |
19 |
> you to be enslaved by proprietary software. |
20 |
|
21 |
Tell that to the many that can't leave it, due to "just one app", |
22 |
photoshop, games, MS Office, Outlook/Exchange, Quickbooks accounting, |
23 |
whatever. They are as enslaved to their "poison of choice", to combine |
24 |
metaphors, as the druggie, as dependant on their master's whims as a slave. |
25 |
As RMS says, every non-free program has a master, use the program, and you |
26 |
are making him /your/ master. A human with another human master is |
27 |
called... a slave. Note that some slavery can have been voluntary at some |
28 |
point. That's indentured servitude, but it's considered a form of |
29 |
slavery. When one can't leave, as these people can't, well, slavery it |
30 |
becomes, whether it was originally voluntary or not. |
31 |
|
32 |
> 2) It's intentionally offensive. |
33 |
|
34 |
Intentionally accurate, IMO. Intentionally thought provoking as well, but |
35 |
the nomenclature is IMO 100% accurate. Note that repeated "IMO". Others |
36 |
are of course free to have their own opinion and call it what they want. |
37 |
That's their opinion and they are entitled to it. I'll continue to choose |
38 |
a label that matches my opinion thereof. "Slaveryware" is what I call it |
39 |
because that's a very concise term defining my opinion of it. What you |
40 |
call it is your choice, "the best thing since sliced bread", if you want. |
41 |
That doesn't mean I have to agree with you, nor that I expect you to agree |
42 |
with me. It's simply defining how each of us feels about it. |
43 |
|
44 |
> Can you imagine explaining to your mother about slaveryware? |
45 |
|
46 |
Actually, yes. My family is reasonably aware of my feelings on the matter |
47 |
and why I hold them. I've described my journey from proprietaryware in |
48 |
terms of a defector leaving the only land he ever knew, family, friends, |
49 |
way of life, sacrificing it all because of a belief in freedom. Just as a |
50 |
defector, I know I could never go back unless there's a regime change. |
51 |
Just as a defector, I look back on that old life as pretty much a different |
52 |
person in a different time. I still have friends in the old country, but |
53 |
I recognize they must make their own choice, take their own risks in their |
54 |
own time. Some may eventually choose to do so, and I'll be here to |
55 |
welcome them and help them get settled in their new land. Others may |
56 |
never choose to do it. I still consider them friends, yearning for them |
57 |
to choose freedom too, but there is now a difference separating us, as |
58 |
long as they haven't yet done so. My folks know and understand my |
59 |
feelings on it, tho they don't share them. As the defector, I recognize |
60 |
there are some that may agree to one extent or another, but simply find |
61 |
they are too old to pull up roots and move, now. I understand this is |
62 |
where my folks are, and am as comfortable with it as the defector |
63 |
could/would be, because in a very real sense, that's really what I am. |
64 |
|
65 |
As I said in my first post, I truly believe this stuff. Some label me a |
66 |
radical as a result. I'm comfortable with that, because from my |
67 |
perspective it puts me in some pretty fine company in terms of many others |
68 |
who have been called radical because they refused to compromise on what |
69 |
they considered freedom. However, it wouldn't be freedom at all if I were |
70 |
to force the same beliefs on others, so I don't. I refuse to compromise |
71 |
in terms of my own beliefs and definitions, but define them only in terms |
72 |
of my own life. Unfortunately (IMO), too often people try to force others |
73 |
into their own belief set. In turn, they expect I'm doing the same. No, |
74 |
I'm not. They can deal with it as they see fit, but I demand and |
75 |
positively assert my right and ability to do the same. |
76 |
|
77 |
|
78 |
|
79 |
-- |
80 |
Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. |
81 |
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- |
82 |
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman |
83 |
|
84 |
-- |
85 |
gentoo-dev@g.o mailing list |