Stallman Suggests Install Fest 'Deals With Devil' Include Actual Man Dressed As Devil (gnu.org) 191
This weekend's annual LibrePlanet conference, hosted by the Free Software Foundation, prompted a new essay about "install fests" from Richard Stallman:
Install fests invite users to bring their computers so that experts can install GNU/Linux on them... The problem is that most computers can't run with a completely free GNU/Linux distro. They contain peripherals, or coprocessors, that won't operate unless the installed system contains some nonfree drivers or firmware... This presents the install fest with a dilemma. If it upholds the ideals of freedom, by installing only free software from 100%-free distros, partly-secret machines won't become entirely functional and the users that bring them will go away disappointed. However, if the install fest installs nonfree distros and nonfree software which make machines entirely function, it will fail to teach users to say no for freedom's sake. They may learn to like GNU/Linux, but they won't learn what the free software movement stands for.... In effect, the install fest makes the deal with the devil, on the user's behalf, behind a curtain so the user doesn't recognize that it is one.
I propose that the install fest show users exactly what deal they are making. Let them talk with the devil individually, learn the deal's bad implications, then make a deal -- or refuse! As always, I call on the install fest itself to install only free software, taking a strict stance. In this way it can set a clear moral example of rejecting nonfree software. My new idea is that the install fest could allow the devil to hang around, off in a corner of the hall, or the next room. (Actually, a human being wearing a sign saying "The Devil," and maybe a toy mask or horns.) The devil would offer to install nonfree drivers in the user's machine to make more parts of the computer function, explaining to the user that the cost of this is using a nonfree (unjust) program... Those users that get nonfree drivers would see what their moral cost is, and that there are people in the community who refuse to pay that cost.
They would have the chance to reflect afterwards on the situation that their flawed computers have put them in, and about how to change that situation, in the small and in the large.
Stallman adds that the Free Software Foundation itself would never let a devil near its events. "But given the fact that most install fests quietly play the role of the devil, I think that an explicit devil would be less bad.
"It would convert the install-fest dilemma from a debilitating contradiction into a teaching experience."
I propose that the install fest show users exactly what deal they are making. Let them talk with the devil individually, learn the deal's bad implications, then make a deal -- or refuse! As always, I call on the install fest itself to install only free software, taking a strict stance. In this way it can set a clear moral example of rejecting nonfree software. My new idea is that the install fest could allow the devil to hang around, off in a corner of the hall, or the next room. (Actually, a human being wearing a sign saying "The Devil," and maybe a toy mask or horns.) The devil would offer to install nonfree drivers in the user's machine to make more parts of the computer function, explaining to the user that the cost of this is using a nonfree (unjust) program... Those users that get nonfree drivers would see what their moral cost is, and that there are people in the community who refuse to pay that cost.
They would have the chance to reflect afterwards on the situation that their flawed computers have put them in, and about how to change that situation, in the small and in the large.
Stallman adds that the Free Software Foundation itself would never let a devil near its events. "But given the fact that most install fests quietly play the role of the devil, I think that an explicit devil would be less bad.
"It would convert the install-fest dilemma from a debilitating contradiction into a teaching experience."
Re: (Score:1)
The various BSDs are 100%-free software, but Beastie is not free.
RMS should think more carefully. (Score:2, Troll)
Re: (Score:2)
Oh gee, what an amazing insight you have there. The biggest computer nerd on the planet lacks some social skills. News at 11!
And next you'll be trumpeting your brilliant eureka moment about how none of the jocks care.
Better solution than install fest: Vest them! (Score:2)
Various ways to describe the problem, but I'll reduce it to a question: If Linux is so superior, why is it a niche OS?
In terms of solution approaches, I think the reasons involve bad financial models. Which leads us back to rms (Stallman) himself. He has no deep understanding of money. I theorize that it's a mix of his extremist philosophy, his tenured status that insulates him from monetary concerns, and some major confusions about freedom versus free. Also something about programming as meta-language and
Re:Better solution than install fest: Vest them! (Score:4, Insightful)
What makes you think it's a niche OS?
It's pretty much everywhere but the desktop. The problem is primarily one of people not believing the inexpensive to free option is actually the better option. That and years of FUD and dirty deals from MS that actually forbid major sellers of consumer desktop and laptop systems from pre-installing Linux making it a less familiar option.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, I think the niches are more narrowly defined that you seem to think. However I think the larger problem, and the one for which you have still failed to offer a solution approach, is that most people are not enthusiastic about switching OSes.
Perhaps I should reword the problem in terms of projection? People who like to learn new things are often too quick to assume everyone is also eager, whereas I've reached the conclusion that most people simply don't want to be bothered. Then again, I could be p
Re: (Score:2)
If Linux is so superior, why is it a niche OS?
At the moment, the most widely deployed and widely used OS in the world is Android, which is Linux. It's not GNU/Linux (the no bash, no glibc, no GNU tools at all in the default install). AOSP is even Free Software, though almost all devices include some non-Free firmware and Google crap. In the server space, even Azure is now mostly running Linux VMs, AWS is almost entirely Linux.
Embedded devices that are large enough to run a real OS often use Linux (though a lot use RTEMS, FreeRTOS, FreeBSD or NetB
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, I am aware that Android is tightly linked to Linux, but it is a different kind of fork and definitely not part of the "install fests" of this topic. There are obviously several different financial models in play in the smartphone world, but as you pointed out the embedded devices are different. The OS is present, but essentially rendered invisible, and the users' choices are strictly at the application level. The box is black and closed and no peeking. (Okay, a little peeking, if you're really a fanati
Re: (Score:1)
If Linux is so superior, why is it a niche OS?
Why, in 2019, on this particular site, would someone be posting who doesn't get that popularity does not equal technical--or any other kind--of quality?
Re: (Score:2)
So you, too, have no better idea, constructive or otherwise, to offer. Just another bit of the typical Slashdot snide-ness. The best proof of the niche-status of Linux is the knee-jerk defensive reactions of the partisans. At some level you must understand there is something wrong with your perception of reality or it wouldn't upset you so much, would it?
Second best proof is the angle rms took. He apparently thinks it's a marketing problem. Stallman has become so delusional that he thinks Satan would be an
Re: (Score:2)
Because in our world it's not the better product that sells but the one with the better marketing. And Linux has had pretty much zero marketing behind it until just very recently.
Re: (Score:2)
If you're asking a question about how the CSB should "market" projects to potential donors, I think there are several ways. The one that is most relevant to Linux and OSS would be how-to and I-want-to-do searches. The objective is to route searches to (1) The completed project that implemented the feature or (2) The project proposal to implement a solution. The hard meta-question is what to do when the searchers' questions come up entry. On the one hand, the search engine should use those failures as feedba
Re: (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure he believes in metaphor and simile. Particularly those that convey ideas succinctly.
Re: (Score:1)
You don't have to believe in real Santa to hire a mall Santa.
Ray Wise (Score:2)
I'm guessing Ray Wise is not a tech nerd, otherwise he would have been a perfect choice. He was perfect as the devil in Reaper.
Seriously? (Score:2, Insightful)
These people are insane.
Re: Seriously? (Score:2, Informative)
Twenty years ago I sat close to RMS for a dinner, the day after I resigned from my local LUG and left this nonsense behind me. I saw this man literally bang his head against a wall because we had t-shirts with tux on them and he thought this was proving we were not fighting for free software.
This man is insane and his followers are not better than him.
I wonder what life would be without RMS (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder what life would be without RMS and GNU, especially GCC. I would really love to be paying $500 per machine for a compiler, because I believe free stuff is junk. I happily pay MS for Windows licenses, because I know I'm getting a solid product made by the top software company in the world.
Linux is an OS for people too down and out to realize how good commercial software is. Nobody in their right mind would use something that does not need activation and license audits to ensure compliance. /sarcasm
Yes, RMS is a pill... but without him, we likely would be paying by the hour for a cable set-top box to send "E-mails" with a "stamp fee" from our CompuServe accounts.
Re: I wonder what life would be without RMS (Score:1)
Oh come on, if it hadn't been him it would have been someone else who started the free software movement. This guy is an embarrassment.
Re: (Score:3)
I would not be so certain of this. Richard's consistent advocacy, and his very correct insights about how companies would abuse software licenses and patents, helped set the stage for the open source world. Critical components like gcc paved the way for Linux, and are critical to free software and open source computing today. The BSD licenses wwere crippled by each being subtly distinct and being impossible to follow them all.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
So, you've never heard of Keith Bostic, nor of BSD, then?
Re: (Score:2)
So, you've never heard of Keith Bostic, nor of BSD, then?
I heard of BSD. It is that other OS that used to be compiled with GCC.
Re: (Score:2)
So, you've never heard of Keith Bostic, nor of BSD, then?
I heard of BSD. It is that other OS that used to be compiled with GCC.
It used to be compiled with cc.
Re: (Score:2)
So, you've never heard of Keith Bostic, nor of BSD, then?
I heard of BSD. It is that other OS that used to be compiled with GCC.
It used to be compiled with cc.
Exactly. On BSD cc was symlinked to GCC since BSD 4.4, the parent of all "modern", open source BSDs. CC and cc were and are always symlinks to some other compiler, e.g. PCC [wikipedia.org] or GCC or Sun C compiler.
Re: (Score:2)
I wonder what life would be without RMS and GNU, especially GCC
PCC and TenDRA were both around at the same time as GCC. If GCC hadn't been in the right place at the right time, one of them would likely have taken over (hopefully TenDRA, it was a much nicer design). Actually, if TenDRA and ANDF had taken off, the Free Software ecosystem would probably be in a better place than it is now.
BSD systems are now pretty easy to keep GNU-free. I still use bash, but out of inertia rather than a conscious evaluation of alternatives (I'd probably pick zsh if I could be bothe
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Linux could be the best OS on the planet but without full functioning and high quality applications it is meaningless. And the applications that do exist are usually just poorly made clones of applications that you actually pay for.
Get real. At work i use OS software for about anything i do. It's on par, if not better, than commercial offerings. Besides, i don't have to worry about crippled-down features. Or future portability of projects, just in case the vendor decides i need a dongle just to view a file.
For example, recently we needed the schematics of an old PCB design. We had to boot a 15-year old box to get access to some files. The software also required a parallel-port dongle. To our luck, the box actually booted and we could
Or ... (Score:5, Insightful)
However, if the install fest installs nonfree distros and nonfree software which make machines entirely function, it will fail to teach users to say no for freedom's sake. They may learn to like GNU/Linux, but they won't learn what the free software movement stands for.... In effect, the install fest makes the deal with the devil, on the user's behalf, behind a curtain so the user doesn't recognize that it is one.
Perhaps, it can demonstrate that compromise and practicality are sometimes necessary in a functioning society and not just a "deal with the devil". Rigidity to an ideology can often be more destructive and counter-productive over the long run. Progress comes from change not stasis.
Stallman adds that the Free Software Foundation itself would never let a devil near its events.
The devil is often in the details; I'm sure some will always be nearby.
Re:Or ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I was gonna say how it’s funny RMS thinks this would lead people to think the device manufacturers are the problem - when in reality all it would do is make most people think Linux is the problem and is an inferior platform.
“It works on Windows, it works on Mac - shouldn’t it just work on Linux?”
I think Stallman got it right (Score:5, Insightful)
While stallman has some rivid values I don't think he's disagreeing with you. He's just wanting the process to call attention to the philosophy more and the consequences of choices in our real world. He's being both realistic and educational by proposing the cute idea of the personified Devil
Re: (Score:3)
Perhaps, it can demonstrate that compromise and practicality are sometimes necessary in a functioning society
RMS is the extreme end in FOSS and pretty much you can always attribute anything, and from the eight or so times I've been to one of his talks, /everything he says as being the furthest end of the spectrum.
Rigidity to an ideology can often be more destructive and counter-productive over the long run
RMS is definitely one of those folks you take in small doses. He's got a good point in general that is worth thinking about. The cross section between everyday life and computers is pretty big and gets bigger by the day. For example, cars are becoming more and more computerized. Imagine how liberatin
Re:Or ... (Score:5, Insightful)
We need people like Stallman to stick to their ideology rigidly, even if the rest of us don't. His suggestion is a good one - it informs people but doesn't stop if they want to go ahead anyway.
Everyone blindly clicks through EULAs without reading them. A literal devil on site to discuss their contents sounds like a great way to get people to take notice.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
99% of the FOSS community and 99% of FOSS leaders are pragmatic and happily stop with a partly FOSS solution. The job of RMS is to be the other guy who reminds everyone that there's more work to be done. We need a world where there are 100% FOSS solutions available, even though I won't likely use any of them.
Re: (Score:2)
The fact that he has signed off on a devil that just makes it work for now through a compromise argues against your assessment.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure ... but do you have examples of people you consider to be like him? Just trying to get a more specific idea of the people you're talking about.
There's nothing impractical about RMS' record. (Score:2)
Your statement is vague and not wise without applying it to an actual situation, so please be specific. As it stands you're replying to someone who has a far better track record of applying practical consideration to his decisions
Re: (Score:1)
You should never be allowed to vote if you are not paying income taxes
That would eliminate almost nobody. People who are paid unemployment, welfare, or social security all pay taxes on those revenue streams.
are not an owner of a business
Even if we disregard the utter stupidity of such a delineation on its face value - and what it would certainly lead to as a result (or the fact that it would be directly counter to the constitution of the United States) - you have the bigger problem of defining what is the owner of a business. In the US if you are an independent contractor - even if you
Just "Linux" (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
How easy is it to run apps made for "just 'Linux'" on an Android device, which uses Linux as its kernel?
Re: (Score:2)
How easy is it to run apps made for "just 'Linux'" on an Android device, which uses Linux as its kernel?
Pretty easy, if it's rootable, and if someone's done a build compatible with your CPU. If it's not rootable, it's a PITA.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't drive a Pirelli/Ford, it's just "Linux".
Linux is just the kernel though; which since you are making car analogies is closer to the engine under the hood than the tires. GNU is everything else; the body, seats, steering wheel, headlights.
If you buy a Lotus Evora, do you tell people you have a Lotus? A Lotus/Toyota or just a Toyota?
Do you call a Pagani a Pagani/Mercedes or just Mercedes?
If you take an old Porsche and put a Covette V8 into it... as some have done, do they have a modified Porsche, a Porsche/Chevrolet, or a modified Chevrolet?
If anyth
Re: (Score:2)
But GNU is not "everything else" - there are vast numbers of projects that make up a common Linux distribution.
Also, if you saw the GNU project prior to Linux, really only the development stack (GCC, binutils, flex/bison) were very usable. The GNU libc was in need of a lot of work to get usable, and that work happened because of Linux's need of a good C library. The various GNU projects have benefited significantly from the Linux communities, since Linux is the main OS that uses them as the primary tools (a
Coreutils plus two (Score:2)
I much prefer {GNU libc, GNU compiler collection, GNU emacs, etc.}/Linux.
Which comes fairly close to the spirit of my "Coreutils plus two" definition [pineight.com].
Re: (Score:2)
"In it, he was emphatic that from a technical standpoint, the kernel *is* the OS."
Shrug; and in the 90s a computer was a CPU and everything else was just IO peripherals. I'm not sure that really applies anymore either.
Besides, Tanenbaum's and a CS perspective on operating systems is hardly representative of what regular people care about when choosing between OSes.
Re: (Score:2)
The CPU doesn't mediate or process all IO. Half the components on the motherboard can pass for full blown computers unto themselves now, with their own memory and io, and many of them can talk directly among each other without involving the CPU. Then you've got stuff like IME as a who 2nd computer running the first one.
The architecture is totally different now. It's just convenient to still think of it the same way, and the software is designed to make that the old metaphor logically applicable... again for
Re: (Score:2)
"DMA, channel I/O, multiprocessing and coprocessors all date to the 1960s or earlier."
"You only think the architecture has changed because you're ignorant of the pre-PC history."
A simple embedded finite state machine in some 60s peripheral is not a full blown turing complete computer. And when 60s era subsystems had bona fide computers of their own in them they were first-class discrete systems in their own right and treated as such. They were not completely overlooked chips hidden in the nooks and crannies
Re: (Score:2)
All the rest is just window dressing.
Good luck making an application for use by end users that doesn't depend on said "window dressing."
Re: (Score:2)
Nobody disputes that, and some people do think more names are apropropriate.
And in fact, if you think about it, lots of distros are named primarily for/differentiated by the preferred window manager, update system, or init system.
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed, in a desktop Linux system, the X Window System is a more salient and less replaceable part than GNU. The Alpine Linux distribution has shown this by replacing GNU with musl and BusyBox, though it appears to still use GCC instead of Clang [alpinelinux.org]. So I've taken to referring to the desktop stack as "X11/Linux".
Re: (Score:2)
When you describe your car, do you describe the engine alone or do you describe the rest of the car and perhaps throw in a bit about the engine?
Is the install fest giving out free t-shirts? (Score:2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Not sure that Stallman is fully versed in the relevant politics...
Re: (Score:2)
"He doesn't care at all about politics. If you want something say what you want and what you're offering for it."
Okay, theology then. More of an esoteric principle than an exoteric one, but, yes.
To bad the Honor System doesn't work. (Score:3, Insightful)
The devil would offer to install nonfree drivers in the user's machine to make more parts of the computer function, explaining to the user that the cost of this is using a nonfree (unjust) program... Those users that get nonfree drivers would see what their moral cost is, and that there are people in the community who refuse to pay that cost.
Implying that it's unjust and/or immoral for one's work to have tangible value and for one to make money from it. I know that's not what he means by "freedom", but, unfortunately, our society doesn't function on the Honor System.
"the first step towards freedom" --FSF (Score:3)
Indeed, the lead section of FSF's directory of free software for Windows [fsf.org] takes a pragmatic approach by replacing pieces of the Windows user space with free software one at a time in order to make the transition to X11/Linux less abrupt.
99% vs 0% (Score:1)
>"However, if the install fest installs nonfree distros and nonfree software which make machines entirely function, it will fail to teach users to say no for freedom's sake."
That is a bit extreme, but I wouldn't expect less from Stallman. His motive is pure, but lots of ours is more of a realistic one... Users are ALREADY making some sacrifices by installing and using Linux, regardless of the distro. I would think that having a 1% "contamination" by non-FOSS firmware or video drivers, or whatever, to
Re: (Score:2)
I wouldn't expect less from Stallman. His motive is pure, but lots of ours is more of a realistic one...
In reality, only the very rich or very poor can afford to live their lives with motives 100% pure as they can either lose a lot without consequence or have nothing to lose. The more one can, or is willing to, give up or do without, the more one can live by their convictions and still live. Whether they become a burden on the rest of us is another matter.
Re: (Score:2)
It's about freedom though ... so maybe a warden would be more appropriate? You get to wear handcuffs while they install the appropriate drivers on your PC?
Re: (Score:2)
Users are ALREADY making some sacrifices by installing and using Linux,
I mean techincally you're going to give u something no matter which you choose, but installing the best OS does mean making the minimum sacrafice.
That's Linux by the way.
Re: (Score:2)
>"That's Linux by the way."
Agreed
Stallman IS right... again. (Score:1)
What? (Score:1)
What the hell is he talking about with special software needed for a "coprocessor"? Is he still living in 80386 land where you could install a 387 math coprocessor? Does he mean binary blob drivers?
Re: (Score:1)
'GPU'
FreeBSD? (Score:2)
Is there one in San Diego? (Score:2)
Last October that lappie died with a hard disk crash. Nothing could be recovered (good backups FTW). Other than a dead hard drive it's a perfectly good laptop.
I thought of buying a new hard drive and making it a 100% Linux box, but if the BIOS won't let me boot from anything other than the hard drive that seemed a waste of money.
Are you now tel
Re: (Score:2)
Kernel-Panic Linux User Group (KPLUG) is the oldest and largest Linux User Group in San Diego. [kernel-panic.org]
Re: (Score:2)
It's gotten easier. You might try again. Laptops are notorious for switching hardware, unannounced, to components that were only tested under Linux and which Linux or UNIX operating systems have not yet published drivers for.
Methinks RMS doth protest too much (Score:2)
I'll start by saying I respect RMS highly. Anything he says on free software is worth considering. But that doesn't mean you have to agree with it.
It should be noted that RMS, when he was creating GNU, had to rely on proprietary commercial unix hardware and closed-source software (Sun Microsystems, IIRC.) As he said in his own essays, this was a necessary means to an end. He and his associates had to start with a working system and replace it bit-by-bit (pardon the pun) with free-as-in-freedom components. B
Re: (Score:1)
As you say yourself, when was creating GNU, he had to rely on proprietary hardware and closed source software. That is, he made a deal with the devil, because it was the only practical option.
Now, we wish to follow in his footsteps by making our deal with the devil, for exactly the same reason, and he tells us it is unjust. It's just straight hypocrisy.
Re: (Score:2)
As you say yourself, when was creating GNU, he had to rely on proprietary hardware and closed source software. That is, he made a deal with the devil, because it was the only practical option.
Now, we wish to follow in his footsteps by making our deal with the devil, for exactly the same reason, and he tells us it is unjust. It's just straight hypocrisy.
Well not quite. I think you missed his point which is that we no longer need to shake hands with the devil, although he admitted he once had to. It requires some compromises, but it is possible now to use a computer with entirely free software. It was not possible when he was building Gnu.
Keep in mind that as Gnu grew, RMS was pragmatic about evolving the stature of free software in a world of proprietary software. For example, consider the LGPL (aka the Library GPL or the Lesser GPL) which allowed propriet
Re: (Score:2)
HURD also tried _not_ to rely on commercial drivers. The kernel never worked well.
Later projects, which have produced some amazing tools, included the "One Laptop Per Child" project which foreshadowed the "netbook" market, and whose physical design was brilliant. The LinuxBIOS project was also extremely effective in technology, though it became hampered by some very strange gender politics by one of its developers. BIOS design requires more hardware than many modern software projects.
You don't understand the situation well enough. (Score:2)
Today you have hardware that respects your freedom [fsf.org] and free distros [gnu.org] to choose from. You aren't facing the same situation RMS did when he started GNU. You're not acknowledging this enormous difference. Also, the GNU GPL v2 (a license the FSF wrote and RMS is a chief author of) doesn't "allow" proprietary software drivers into the Linux kernel. Allowing that is a choice of Linux kernel copyright holders who don't sue, encourage other Linux kernel copyright holders not to sue, or pass on copies of that variant
FOSS needs a push for a user friendly cloud. (Score:2)
We need to get going with some user friendly zero-fuss FOSS cloud solution that can replace Google, MS and Apple clouds and webapps with one install command. Think gnome/kde in neat and beautiful but for the web.
Beat the proprietary services at their own game is what has been long overdue.
My2 cents.
Proprietary software is still the rule. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:It is not wrong... (Score:5, Insightful)
to help put food on the table of someone who writes software. Free software will always be mediocre and decades behind commercial solutions. Yes, ostentatiously [sic] the word free doesn't necessarily mean no cost, according to RMS, but let's get real, if there is no hindrance to simply copying it, then there is no motivation to pay for more than the cost of the copy. Unfortunately, copying 1s and 0s hardly covers creating them in the first place, and if there is no motivation to create them, then the choices will be mostly limited to hobbyist and hardware manufacturer written software.
And yet people do make a living writing free software. [zdnet.com] In many cases quite a comfortable one.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: It is not wrong... (Score:1)
Yup this is why we need public funding for free software.
So.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
It's bitztream the autism-hating, custom EpiPen-hating, Musk-hating, Qualcomm-hating, Firefox tabs-hating, Slashdot editors-hating Slashdot troll!
Re:It is not wrong... (Score:4, Interesting)
It's weirder than that.
Any sort of complex and fun to write code will always be superior on the open source version, ask things like ffmpeg and blender, or apache.
Now when its boring code like GUIs, well, then people just don't want to touch that and halfass the GUI, when they even bother in doing one (see ffmpeg or blender).
Re: (Score:2)
It had a major overhaul on the GUI to suck quite less.
The previous one was absolute madness.
Re: (Score:3)
So how do you explain the Linux desktop machine I am using to reply to you. The one with the browser that's so far beyond MS's offering that they cried 'uncle' and decided to use a re-skinned version of it rather than their own product? The one with an office suite that can read MS Office documents better than MS Office?
How do you explain the total failure of Windows on cell phones and it's status as an also ran at best on tablets while a fair portion of them use a modified Linux kernel (the rest use a modi
Re: (Score:2)
In a world where people attach no price tag to their time, you're right. That's not the case in a professional environment where everyone's time literally does have a price tag. I sell my time to my company. And if I have to figure something out myself, it can easily cost more money than hiring the person who wrote the software to teach me how to use it.
This is, by the way, the reason why Linux took off mostly as an OS for server systems and in other areas that are mostly used in an environment where you wi
Re: (Score:2)
Up until there's a completely free Stallman improved Linux that just works on every hardware configuration out there.
The other option is to wait until you would have normally replaced your laptop anyway and then buy a Respects Your Freedom(tm) certified laptop.
Till then I'll move closer and closer to his ideal so long as it provides working solutions for my work and gaming needs.
AAA-caliber gaming is one part of the software market where FSF has been conspicuous by its absence.