Re: [tlug] How to Push Linux! .......................

["Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon" <ronfaxon@example.com>]

Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:

>    >> _Listen_ to your friends.
>
>    Lyle> But if I listened to them, I would toss my L-boxes out the
>    Lyle> window and rush to the nearest high-priced electronics store
>    Lyle> and buy a new W-box!  Listen to them?  I don't think so!

>Really?  Then you haven't yet learned to be free.  (^^;;

Yes I have.  Now those W-users... you should talk to them!

>The main problem that "open source" is intended to solve is the
>deafness of free software fanatics ("FSFers").

I'm not one of those, by the way, I'm happy to spend money on what I
consider to be good software.  Being overcharged for illegal, buggy and
arrogant MS junk is what I don't like!  I do like free software of
course.....

>(1) For most people, computers are _not_ an important part of their
>consciousness.  They're just another tool, with useful magical
>behavior like toasters and TVs (though more useful and less magical
>than a bong).  Not to mention that 8 in 10 of those alive today will
>never touch a computer.  Indeed, this is sad, but it's a fact of life.

It's probably an impossible hope, but I would hope the situation could
be changed somehow.  At least the people I've talked to can no longer
say that they have never heard of Linux.

>(3) Linus for years used PowerPoint for his presentations (and
>possibly still does, for all I know; neither MagicPoint nor UltraPoint
>is terribly exciting, even several years later).  I still use Windows
>occasionally for OCR, and of course I stick with the Sharp ROM on my
>Zaurus for the pen-based kanji entry.  These aren't any big deal, but
>what happened with Bitkeeper is.

I see your point - the thing that keeps coming to mind for me is the
strong feeling that people have a responsibility to support what they
think is good and oppose threatening organizations.  Much more than not
liking Microsoft's products (or liking them), I view that organization
as a threat to the tools that I depend on, one of those being Linux.
Were MS not a threat (in an illegal and insidious way) to honest
companies and organizations, I wouldn't worry about it, but it is, and I do.

>I suppose everybody knows that Bitkeeper is a proprietary product that
>blows all free software SCMs away, but (until last April) the vendor
>allowed free software projects (and specifically the Linux kernel) to
>use it for free (as in "what the beer at nomikais is not").  However,
>the FSFers on lkml gave Bitmover hell, and eventually Andrew Tridgell
>(of Samba and rsync fame) blew up the already sabotaged relationship
>by publically attempting to reverse engineer the product.  This filled
>the FSFers with glee; now Linus would sanctify one of the free SCMs.
>But it wasn't to be.

I wasn't aware of the above details.  I am opposed to a radical view
that all software must be free.  I happily buy the updates to Eki-supato
(for an off-line W-machine), a really excellent program for the train
system in Japan,(that I hope is making a living for the company that
produces it), and I'm quite grateful that EditPad Pro is available (for
a very reasonable price) on Linux.  I still haven't found a text editor
for writing that I like better.  (In case you're interested, their
website is: http://www.editpadpro.com/ )

>What does this have to do with PowerPoint?  Simply this: there are a
>lot of really smart people working in open source who prefer open
>source for all the usual reasons, but won't hesitate to use a product
>that works if the free software doesn't.  And if the proprietary
>product goes away?  Well, they can build their own in real time.  And
>the FSFers don't even listen to _them_!
>
>But you know, as much as I respect Linus, I think people like Bruno's
>father should be listened to just as much.

All very reasonable, but it's the illegality and underhanded tactics of
MS *the company* and the damage they cause, that I oppose.  Much more
than being anti-MS products, I'm anti-MS, because they are bunch of
dirty rotten scoundrels!

>This is something that Microsoft, in fact, understands.  That's not to
>say that Microsoft products aren't buggy as hell, a malignant
>monopolistic tumor on the industry, and an attractive nuisance.  And
>of course being on hold on a tollfree line is just as frustrating as
>on a normal line, only cheaper.  But their typical customer can
>maintain his illusion of working with a toaster on steroids, and
>that's why 90% of the market continues to put up with it.  It delivers
>what the paying customers think that they want, as a fraction of what
>they think is possible.  Microsoft listens where it affects their
>bottom line.

Right, and they have illegally threatened legitimate options - 
particularly with the hardware manufacturers.  Again - I strongly feel 
that the real issue here is one of needing to stop an illegal company 
from dominating our lives.  Whether their products work or not isn't 
even the issue.... well... not the main issue.

>Or, as Jim said, "_Listen_ to your friends."  Find out what they think
>they need, and point out how free software can serve those needs.
>Help them to understand that there are other ways to do things, and
>that computers have capabilities that _nobody_ is serving yet.  This
>is a long-run project; it takes a while for the implications to sink
>in.  As they do, you and your friends will discover more needs that
>free software can serve.

Yes - yes.  And that's what I'm trying to do.  I may have overpainted 
the picture (glassy eyes, etc.) in an attempt at humor, but I try to 
promote options.  Speaking of which, I was given a few pairs of Ubuntu 
disks (one installation disk and one Live-CD disk) in spiffy packaging 
that might make someone happy.  I was trying not to seem greedy, so I 
didn't take as many as i would have liked, but that was probably a 
mistake - the Ubuntu people were quite friendly and at the end of the 
round-table discussion (I wish you had been there!) said "Take as many 
as want".  I should have listened... at least I have a few - many I can 
help them find good homes.

Just to sum up my feelings:

Tyranny must be opposed!  The longer people wait to stop it, the more
difficult becomes the task.

Lyle