Am 14. Nov, 2006 schwätzte Darrin Chandler so: > On Mon, Nov 13, 2006 at 10:16:52PM -0700, der.hans wrote: >> To some extent they use OSen other than GNU/Linux or *BSD due to job >> requirements, but some also just prefer to use them for one reason or >> another. > > One should always use the best tool for the job at hand. If you're not, > then you're not doing your job properly. Free software is increasingly > the best tool, but it's nowhere near 100% yet. Proprietary software is not near 100% the correct tool either :). >> I think promoting Free Software due to the freedoms is how Free Software >> will succeed. I also think the restrictiveness of proprietary software is >> how it will fail. > > The philosophical ideals often turn out to have meaning in the real > world. The OpenBSD 3.9 theme was "Stop Blob!" and was scoffed at and > downplayed to a large degree by other open source projects/users. Then > came the Wifi driver exploits, and the nvidia driver exploits. Windows, > OSX, Linux, FreeBSD issued patches. OpenBSD didn't need to, due to > sticking to their guns. Freedom matters, and it matters in everyday life > on our laptops and desktops. From a practical stance, open is better. I would note that at least some of us GNU/Linux users avoid proprietary blobs. >> Trying to make it a duel about "we're better" or "we're spiffier" or >> "we're $whatever" or "they suck" is the wrong way to go. True or not, it >> just turns into a fight. >> >> Does this mean I disagree with Shuttleworth's recent call to make >> GNU/Linux prettier? No, of course not. >> >> In fact, he's hitting on what Free Software developers have been working >> on for years, continue making Free Software the best around and keep >> working on the areas that need help. Mark just pointed out that, in his >> opinion, the attractiveness of Free Software is something he thinks needs >> help. > > He's right. Most free software is not as spiffy looking as commercial > software (Ubuntu included), and it seems to matter to people. Especially > to non-techy users who make up the vast majority. We're working on it :). I saw that Ubuntu has a list of graphics people working on pretty pictures for Ubuntu. Next time I'm asked if I know a graphics person I'm going to point at that list. For years I've been looking for someone who would do good graphics using Free Software. I've even tried to get a few people to adopt Free Software, but I don't understand making graphics or the tools near well enough to do a good job of that :(. ciao, der.hans -- # https://www.LuftHans.com/ http://www.CiscoLearning.org/ # Join the League of Professional System Administrators https://LOPSA.org/ # I chose to use the kernel sources as my documentation. ;-) # -- Kevin Buettner