On Tuesday 24 May 2011, Rony wrote: > As mentioned by Amol, FOSS promotion is no longer needed. In software > what I have observed is that good, handy and easy to install and > learn software will always get popular and users will flock to it. > That should be the one and only goal for FOSS development.
Hmm, I have ideological issues with that. So padding my backside for the kicking it's sure to get on this list... The primary reason for adoption of FOSS should be ideological. As long as you keep promoting practical reasons for adoption, you will lose out in the long run. For instance, someone claims that FOSS is cheaper than the proprietary alternative. Does that mean we should start promoting (say) Winduhs if MS starts giving it away without charge just because it's easier to use? Similar arguments apply to any characteristic of FOSS you choose (security, efficiency, etc.) APART from the freedom-related arguments. Some of these include: - Not being tied to a specific vendor for support - Ability to customise the package for own requirements - Ability to audit the package for security - Ability to strip down the package for non-standard uses - Ability to use parts of the package in other packages - Ability to localise the package without vendor intervention - Ability to port the package to other platforms Note that all of these are absolute; relative comparisons (faster than, cheaper than, more secure than, easier to use than, etc.) have no place in promotion of FOSS IMNSHO. In any case, if you manage to push enough people to use a package for absolute, freedom-centric reasons, there will be enough developers jumping on to make the relative comparisons favourable :) Regards, -- Raj -- Raj Mathur r...@kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/ || It is the mind that moves -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
