Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Why contains in nonfree that's not ethical?

[Adam Bolte]

On Tue, Mar 17, 2015 at 07:49:00PM -0500, Will Hill wrote:
> The idea is for the efforts to have tangible rewards. It's easier
> than you think it is, even if you are forced to use non free
> software at work.

I'm not sure I follow. Do you have any examples I could use?

The policy regarding GPG is that certain documents will only be acted
upon if signed (such as user account creation requests and anything
else that makes sense to require it). As such, the reward could be
that you aren't wasting your time by not using GPG... but considering
that wasn't an issue for people prior to GPG being a requirement, most
people don't see it as a "reward".


> There is big demand for it.  Gluglug experience overwhelming orders
> for the first Respects Your Freedom certified computer.  You can see
> similar demand for platforms that were perceived as more free than
> Windows, such as netbooks and Walmart's short lived gnu/linux
> desktops.  Commercial demand for GNU/Linux has generally been
> limited by coercion.

The Gluglug is an awesome project, but it would surely sell
insignificant numbers of units relative to any other major computer
manufacturer. EeePCs were great sellers (I have two of the original
701 models myself which I still use to this day as Pulseaudio audio
server), and I do agree coercion was used to force them out of the
market.


> I do not recommend dual booting under any circumstance.  Microsoft
> will wipe your bootloader. If you must use Windows, you should
> probably use Windows for the one or two tasks that are forced on you
> and your free software device for everything else, especially
> communications.

I do not think they will wipe your bootloader if you are using UEFI
and/or have Windows on a separate (primary) HDD. However I wouldn't
ever recommend Windows anyway. Wine is usually sufficient for most
Windows programs these days, if there is just one or two applications
that are the problem.


> If you communicate with free software, you will use free software
> all day.  If you use free software, you will teach others how to do
> it.

Only if other people take an interest. I've been running GNU/Linux at
my workplace for 5 years (since I started), and encourage other people
to do the same. The only other people who ever ran a free OS did so
(or wanted to do so) from the beginning of their employment and needed
no convincing from me.


> If you must use Windows and don't have room for a second set of
> monitors and key boards, the free software world is full of software
> that will make better use of Windows than Microsoft does.  I've
> written a few articles about how to do that.  A couple of places
> that work comes together is my not quite finished celebration of
> Thinkpads,

Basically everyone uses Macs here. I've pushed the company to offer a
hardware and operating system choice to all new employees where new
hardware would need to be acquired. My desktop also has 6 LCDs
connected to it (and another via synergy to a small ARM box) so it
pretty much stands out that GNU/Linux isn't a problem here. However
only one person ever chose anything other than a MacBook. Even people
who don't know how to use a Mac have chosen Mac hardware.

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