Re: [OT] Re: Do we really offer the future?

[Gilles]

Hi.

On Mon, 20 Apr 2015 14:18:19 -0400, Kieren MacMillan wrote:
> Hi Gilles,
>
> On Apr 20, 2015, at 1:19 PM, Gilles <address@hidden> 
> wrote:
> > When people put convenience above all, they start giving up their 
> > freedom.
>
> My experience — this thread being no different so far — is that such
> discussions always end up in absolutist terms (moral and otherwise).
> It’s almost a defining quality of the FLOSS movement, from what I can
> tell.
>
> Ultimately, such positions are neither realistic, nor productive, nor
> particularly interesting to me (or many other people I know).
>
> I don’t grow my own food, because buying my food — even the organic
> food I purchase regularly, in person, from farmers I know by name — 
> is
> not only more convenient, but also cheaper and more freeing than
> growing, harvesting, and processing it myself. That freedom allows me
> to do other things that are more important to me, like composition,
> and using Lilypond to engrave my compositions, instead of heading out
> at 5AM to feed and milk my cows before the hard 16-hour day tending 
> my
> subsistence crops.
>
> I don’t put convenience above all; I make choices that make sense to
> me and those around me, in my real-world life.

Your earlier comparisons were not really applicable to the
situation discussed in this thread.
This one is completely off-topic (as you correctly indicated
in the subject line) if it purports to argue against something
I wrote.

I stated explicitly in my previous post what aspects would perhaps
be worth working on (IMHO).  Because I'm just a little user, and
grateful for what the software can do, I always felt I should not
complain about such shortcomings, as long as I did not have the
time to contribute more productively.

As the question was asked on this forum, I felt I could provide
my opinion that some effort might be misplaced if its sole purpose
was towards improving the publishing business.
My opinion is that the future should not be that.

The publishers indeed (also) do not care about the real-world
principles (free access to culture in this instance) which a FLOSS
like LilyPond can help achieve (within their obviously limited
sphere).
Not that they oppose it, it's simply not their business (which is
selling printed scores).  They have the right to use the software,
like any of us.  The point is that they don't want to.  Several
possible reasons were given by other people in this thread.

Of course, you are free to pursue your effort with the publishing
houses, despite the preference of some of your fellow LilyPonders...
:-)

Regards,
Gilles