Re: GNOME and the free software movement

["dodji Seketeli" <dodji seketeli org>]

Hello,

> What freedoms exactly?
>
> The computer users I know can't code. What are they
> going to with the source code they have the freedom to
> modify?

I beg to respectfully (though strongly) disagree with you here.

If my mom in Togo cannot modify the source code herself, she can ask
one of her children, or the software engineer down the road - who just
came back from the US and opened a software business to adapt free
software to the needs of local people - to modify the source code to
match her needs.
She would have to pay that software engineer, just the way she pays
the house painter to re-paint the mouses of her house to better fit
her needs, and that is fair.

What I am trying to say here is that freedom has many implications,
including fostering  local economies in parts of the world you may not
even imagine. That is (a lilttle bit of) power back to local people
and local economies, at least.

So I think we should stay humble in this area. It is not because _you_
don't see the benefits of freedom for someone that you should say it
is useless.

> And free as in beer makes no difference to them: they
> either got their Windows XP with their Dell, or from a
> bloke they know with a CD burner.

Yes, but getting windows XP illegally is ... illegal. If they don't
understand it today, someone is likely to make them understand it one
day, the hard way.
So it does makes a difference. If they don't understand that, and if
they are your friends, you should take time to talk with them and
_try_ to make them understand. If they don't, try again.

> Freedoms that you can't exercise are meaningless.

And I still disagree.

Cheers,

Dodji.