| 1 |
On Thursday 17 August 2006 03:01, Mike Lundy wrote: |
| 2 |
> I told a friend that there were some in the community who called |
| 3 |
> proprietary software slaveryware. His response? "Holy shit!" If that term |
| 4 |
> spreads, we can forget about convincing otherwise logical people that free |
| 5 |
> software is the Right Way. There are two problems with it: |
| 6 |
|
| 7 |
I can't help to respond here. |
| 8 |
> |
| 9 |
> 1) It's incorrect. There is nothing at this point in time that causes you |
| 10 |
> to be enslaved by proprietary software. There are stories of speculative |
| 11 |
> fiction, such as "Right to Read" and other, better written stories; those |
| 12 |
> stories are just that- fiction. Microsoft does not beat you or chain you to |
| 13 |
> their operating system. Sun does not whip you to use java. Members of the |
| 14 |
> wider computer community may, through their own adoption, but Sun has |
| 15 |
> nothing to do with it. You must convince members of your community to stay |
| 16 |
> away from proprietary software. This leads me to the second error. |
| 17 |
|
| 18 |
Actually, it is more subtle. Microsoft does not force you to use windows. One |
| 19 |
uses windows because of office. One uses microsoft office not because of |
| 20 |
microsoft, but because *the whole world* uses microsoft office. It is called |
| 21 |
network effects and is the cause of the microsoft monopoly. The slavery part |
| 22 |
is that we are basically at the mercy of the owner of the monopoly. (You know |
| 23 |
the main competitor of windows XP? It's the earlier releases, same goes for |
| 24 |
office) |
| 25 |
|
| 26 |
> 2) It's intentionally offensive. The end goal of the free software |
| 27 |
> movement, as I understand it, is to convince everyone that freedom in |
| 28 |
> software is something to strive for. Some people do not immediately see the |
| 29 |
> light of this, and must be convinced through logical means. Convincing |
| 30 |
> people to see the benefits of free software is difficult enough. Stealing a |
| 31 |
> cliche- can you imagine explaining to your mother about slaveryware? If you |
| 32 |
> use that term, you then have to convince people that that term is accurate. |
| 33 |
> The discussion will be about the slaveryware /word/ instead of the free |
| 34 |
> software /idea/. That is counterproductive, and will likely cause you to be |
| 35 |
> dismissed as a extremist (though, hopefully not by your mother). |
| 36 |
> Intentionally offending the very people we need to convince does not help |
| 37 |
> us at all. |
| 38 |
|
| 39 |
While it is accurate, I agree with you that it is indeed offensive. |
| 40 |
|
| 41 |
Paul |
| 42 |
|
| 43 |
-- |
| 44 |
Paul de Vrieze |
| 45 |
Gentoo Developer |
| 46 |
Mail: pauldv@g.o |
| 47 |
Homepage: http://www.devrieze.net |
Archives