Michael, *; Am 20.04.2010 21:59, schrieb Michael Kesper: > Thank you for your very long but good post!
No problem. :) Actually, I've been a quiet lurker on this list for quite some time, but some of the discussions goin' on here recently just feel "strange" somehow... To add some thoughts: > I'd say it's important to show people the different mindsets. > If I'm forced to use windows (at work), I'm always again astonished how > difficult it is to get the tools to just do your work, how much pain it is > to keep everything updated etc. Yes. Same here. Well, not exactly the same: I am not forced to use Windows. As a company, we're open to both "open source" and "software libre", and I am using software libre on my day-to-day development notebook and, asides this, as much as somewhat possible... with the compromises necessary and outlined before (most notably the viewer problem which, even though this easily would be possible regarding any other applications we use/need, so far forces us to stay with Windows on workstations). > The tools are all inclusive. > Maybe you can also show that even people who are not programmers can help > A LOT by translating, sending bug reports, designing themes etc. Yes. Indeed. But I think in many respects, there is one big field where Ubuntu, despite all "libre vs. non-libre" discussions, excels: By putting the user in the center of things. Take something like the "100 papercuts" project [1], and put that in relation to your experience outlined earlier (how difficult things are on Windows on many respects), which I share with some of our users (some of them right now suffering because our viewer manufacturer, for whichever stupid reason, decided to go with "ribbon" user interface in its latest release): Most users who "just" want to get work done suffer in day-to-day work simply for usability, accessibility, ergonomy reasons. "Open community" (including software libre people and the whole crowd "just" focussed on building open-source software) really could make a difference here simply by taking the user "more seriously", by making him/her more than just a customer. That, to me, is the "human" thing about Ubuntu, and it seems reasonable (and, overally, success of that distribution even among non-technical users seems to prove this approach right). Or, the other way 'round: To most users (leaving out idealistic / enthusiastic people like you, me and the rest of folks around here), I think switching to software libre / becoming active somehow needs good reasons beyond "just" freedom/liberty, as this reason is something they eventually aren't experiencing as an advantage anyhow. If you don't have someone to share software with, don't want to look at or even modify source code, and so far never experienced either the legal or the technical boundaries of a system like MacOS or Windows, what advantage (asides the obvious fact of "being free", having total control) does "software libre" bring you? Let's compare it to motivating people to buy groceries made in fair trade and/or ecological / sustainable agriculture: Surely, there is a group of people buying right _this_ kind of products for ethical or political reasons. But to "Joe Average" (who doesn't really know/care about these things), in the end it comes down to products (a) being more expensive, (b) certain products not being available at some times of the year (you don't have strawberries in Europe in winter...), (c) eventually looking a little less "perfect", looking a little less like right off a food magazine cover shot (look at some biologically grown apples and you know what I mean). So, how to make this "Joe Average" interested in biological food? Give him reasons _he_ will see as advantages: Products being healthier (because of the lack of any chemicals along the production trail), products tasting more intense (compare the taste of tomatoes grown in-house in winter to those grown outside in the sun, given the time it takes...), knowing better what is inside because after all these are the tomatoes, potatoes, ... grown by the farmer just next door not packaged and imported by some global corporation, ... . Being provided with advantages like this, "Joe Average" eventually will see why this is good for him/her _besides_ being "just" ethically / politically better. And, to get back to software, this is where I see Ubuntus "user-first" approach come in: Provide the user with reasons to use software libre, even those users that don't do that "for the sake of liberty". Provide them with a framework stable enough to have as much freedom as somehow possible. Maybe the most constructive thing we could do about this would be to embrace Ubuntu and its community and gently guide users into values of software libre, gently being the acceptance that sometimes compromises have been made or else, the overall freedom of this user might drastically be reduced (as in worst case (s)he gets back to Windows, finding him-/herself unable to open what seems an "ordinary" PDF file on a software libre platform). This is what I do these days, this is how I try making people aware of free software, and at the very least, with Ubuntu working out of the box on most systems, the hurdle to even show people what software libre can do is incredibly lower. That's good, I'd say. :) K. [1]https://launchpad.net/hundredpapercuts -- Kristian Rink * http://pictorial.zimmer428.net # [email protected] "What was once thought can never be unthought." (Duerrenmatt - 'Die Physiker') _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list [email protected] https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion
