RE: [Fsfe-uk] NCC Filetab for Linux

[Tom Weiss]

> 
> A lot of people on this list are interested in freedom, myself
included,
> and will not sacrifice time and effort on a program that could never
> release another version, so any usage would be locked in.  I will pay
for
> free software, but I will not install non-free software into
GNU/Linux,
> and
> I think a lot of other people on this list will agree with me.
> 
[Tom Weiss says] 

You are absolutely right about freedom, but you must think about how
best this can be achieved - a world of 100% free software is an
exceedingly long way off, and there is a reasonable argument that some
niche areas will always remain proprietary (e.g. scientific instrument
control software, ERP systems).

At the moment, Linux is the only serious competitor to Windows on the
desktop, and the major obstacle to its adoption is the lack of software
support from vendors. Advocates of free software should encourage and
support all software vendors to produce versions of their software for
Linux, be they free or not, as this will ultimately encourage the use of
Linux.

Once Linux is established as a mainstream desktop operating system, then
the effort can be put into the other proprietary software.

t.