Re: question for candidates

["Lefty (石鏡 )" <lefty shugendo org>]

On 6/4/10 7:30 AM, "Bastien Nocera" <hadess hadess net> wrote:
> 
> People and corporations will not choose Free Software (or Open Source,
> or any derivative flavour) because it's free.
> 
> First, you'll choose it because it's better, cheaper, and more
> customisable (not the "I can have checkboxes" kind, but the "it would
> only take a small effort to make it do exactly what I want to").
> 
> So I'd rather see us advance the "better" part, and the libre software
> philosphy will flow from that. I don't think it requires that much
> attention from the GNOME Foundation itself. Or, rather, it would not be
> my focus if elected to the Foundation Board.

I want to thank Bastien for an _incredibly_ sensible response here. I
totally agree: if we spent more time making _better_ software, then there'd
be more _free_ software in people's hands.

Personally, I don't _want_ the Board of the GNOME Foundation spending their
efforts pushing "software freedom": that's the FSF's lookout. As Bastien
notes, people (generally) don't choose software for its "freedom" any more
than people choose chisels based on the dietary habits of the people who
made them.

_I_ want the Board spending their time pushing "getting _better_ open source
software into the hands of _more_ people". If people get "educated" about
"software freedom" (i.e., about the FSF, essentially) but don't use the
software we produce?either because it compares unfavorably with non-"free"
alternatives, or simply because they _can't_?then the Board has, in my view,
utterly failed.

(This offer not good for the 50 million owner/users of iPhones, at a bare
minimum, at least as far as GPL software goes.)

((AND YES, I'M POSTING USING ENTOURAGE. GET A GRIP, ALREADY.))