Re: Release plans

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi again, Richard,

On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 06:01:38PM -0400, Richard M Stallman wrote:
>     MS-Windows, like fossil-fuelled transportation, is something
>     undesirable, but difficult to avoid without separating from
>     mainstream society.

> They are not similar; avoiding Windows is far easier.  Please do not
> exaggerate.

Avoiding Windows may well be far easier.  It is still difficult.

>       If I were to reject paid work involving MS-Windows and
>       (proprietary) Unix, I would need to find paid work outside of
>       software development.

> I was prepared to do that if necessary in 1984.  Fortunately I
> did not have to.  Maybe you wouldn't either.

Maybe I wouldn't.  The point I made is that I AM NOT PREPARED to do it.
The tenor of your post seems to be I should feel some sort of guilt, some
sort of personal inadequacy.  I don't and I won't.  I will, however,
continue to implement, advocate and advance free software, as best as I
can.  

>       As far as I can, I run only free software at home.  However my
>       PC's BIOS is not free,

> On fsf.org there are recommendations for PCs that run with a free BIOS.

Thanks!  I'll have a look there the next time I need a new PC.

[ .... ]

>       Sadly, the freedom in free software doesn't excite most people -
>       Emacs's capabilities do, though.

> Have you seen any cases where that eventually led a person to switch
> from proprietary software to free software?

Well, that's not a binary thing.  Seeing Emacs has caused people to use
free software more, and to use more free software.  Many projects I've
been on have run on a Windows or Unix company network, but have used GCC,
GNU Make, bash, and friends to build the product.  I've introduced quite
a few people to Emacs, the odd one or two to GAWK, ...., and they're
probably still using them.  One or two are probably using GNU/Linux on
their home PCs, too.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).