> Although I understand that getting our employers and friends to use free
> software because it's really good is important, I don't think it's as
> important as telling people that non-free software is restrictive, unfair,
> unsociable and many other nasty things as well as supporting and growing a
> community of free software users that can exist because at least some
> software is free.
The argument that non-free software is restrictive, unfair, unsociable and
many other nasty things is entirely a matter of opinion (and you're welcome
to yours :-). It's up there with other pie-in-the-sky arguments like
"paying money to connect to the Internet sucks", "we shouldn't have to pay
taxes" and a whole lot of other equally naive positions, where naive is
naivety on a glocal rather than local scale.
There is plenty of room in the world for both free software and non-free
software: personally and professionally, I use and support both. However,
it is not realistic for one side to say that the other side sucks just
because in an ideal world, we'd be using one or the other. Both are useful,
and the best way to foster both is not by philosophical protectionism on
behalf of either of them but by choosing the best solution to fit your
needs. This has the side-effect of encouraging the other side to produce a
better product in competition.
Nick
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