"Bob Young" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> posted [EMAIL PROTECTED], excerpted below, on Thu, 28 Sep 2006 16:03:25 -0700:
>> From: Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> "Bob Young" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> > That's not freedom, they are still completely dependent on the >> > mechanic they take the car to. >> >> No, they aren't. They can use another mechanic. Instead of having to >> consult *one particular entity* they can consult *any entity of a >> particular class*. They gain a choice, which means they have more >> freedom. > > That's almost entirely a theoretical difference, in the real world this > "freedom" is actually exercised very little if at all. I'm sure there > are exceptions occasionally, but the fact is, the vast majority of OSS > users who can't read/write source code, will never once in their entire > life, contract with a third party to modify an app/driver/utility that > they have the source code for. The vast majority of users, perhaps, but it's the exercise of this freedom is now a MAJOR factor, perhaps now THE major factor, in further FLOSS development. How many companies and even government agencies now pay developers to full-time or part-time work on FLOSS projects they are interested in? That's /very/ /much/ "hiring their own mechanic", even if it's the original mechanic. -- Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman -- [email protected] mailing list
