Re: [Fsfe-uk] Mac OS X refund

[Kevin Donnelly]

On Saturday 02 February 2008 13:21, Ian Lynch wrote:
<snip>
I agree with all you have said, especially the eeePC, which I got a couple of 
weeks ago, but don't get to see much of because my daughter has commandeered 
it!  The sheer number of these sold suggests that if the product is appealing 
enough, closed software does not have an insurmountable mindshare.

> It will become easier and easier to only use FOSS if that
> is the ethical route you choose but don't expect all proprietary
> software to disappear any time soon.

I don't think anybody here does - even in the longer term there may be niche 
markets where it will remain.  But the point is whether, when advocating free 
software, we should give a leg up to legacy closed systems or not.  They can 
reasonably be regarded as a necessary evil *for now*, but to go on to suggest 
to people that they will always be a major part of the landscape, and that 
there's nothing much free software can do about that except swallow it and 
play around on their margins, seems to me to be missing something in the 
advocacy department.  We wouldn't be having this discussion now if our 
predecessors had said "there's no real point taking on the gorillas, lads - 
might as well pack up and go home".

-- 
Pob hwyl / Best wishes

Kevin Donnelly

www.klebran.org.uk - Gwirydd gramadeg rhydd i'r Gymraeg
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