Re: Release plans

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi, again!

On Sat, Aug 02, 2008 at 09:33:21PM -0400, Richard M. Stallman wrote:
>     I think it would "do you good" to spend a week using only
>     proprietary software on a Microsoft Windows system; I don't think
>     you're aware of just how sucky it is.

> If I did all my work in Emacs, as usual, I might not notice much difference.

Er, "using only proprietary software ....".  The whole idea is that you
_would_ notice.  You know, use the whole works, Microsoft Word, Outlook
Express, Visual Studio (or, if you've been suffering from a lack of
vomitting in the recent past, Lotus Notes), Clear Case (a proprietary VCS
system), .......

To be honest, I wouldn't do that either if somebody suggested it to me.
But if you did try this, you might then be a bit more sympathetic to
those who percieve that type of software to be modern, efficient, and OK.

>     If you were, you'd realise that campaigning on the basis of
>     software quality in addition to freedom could be effective indeed.

> I am sure it IS effective for convincing people to use GNU/Linux when
> that is more convenient.  I want to convince people to insist on
> freedom even when it is inconvenient.

I see my task, miniscule though my personal contribution might be, to be
to make freedom convenient.  Several of my colleagues over the years have
told me they don't care about software freedom, they want the tools which
get their job done best.  You can't argue with that, it's consistent and
honest.  I think free software should cater to them, too.

I don't think many software people really do care that much about
freedom.  To make people value freedom over convenience, I think you'd
have to first convince them that any incovenience would be minor.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).