[libreplanet-discuss] Prejudices & Software Freedom

[Joel Kahn]

I too have jumped through the familar hoops while
trying to explain to people how Free (Libre)
Software works. I've shown them the SourceForge
site with its thousands of functioning programs.
I've demonstrated LibreOffice and its various
kinds of superiority to Microsoft Office. When
people looked at my digital artwork and asked me
if I made the pictures with PhotoShop, I've told
them about the GPL tools that I actually work with.
I've shown them the laptop upon which I'm typing
this message, the machine which has outlasted
by years the MS Windows 7 originally loaded on it.

After all that and much more, I can still confirm the
basic point in the story that started this thread.
Some people will do *whatever* it takes to avoid
seeing things which are too far outside of their
mindset. I don't think there is any universal cure.

One of my favorite quotes comes from a journalist
named Elmer Davis. Around 60 years ago, he wrote:

"It hurts more to have a belief pulled than
to have a tooth pulled, and no intellectual
novocain is available."

Joel