Re: What is GNU ELPA?

[Arthur Miller]

Richard Stallman <address@hidden> writes:

> [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
> [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
> [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
>
> The basic idea of the free software movement is that nonfree software
> is an injustice and it should not exist.  We tell people it is a problem
> we aim to eliminate.
>
> We take this issue very seriously, so we have a rule not to say
> anything that might suggest the use of nonfree software.  We don't
> mention the existence of a program if it can't be used in the Free
> World.  See the GNU Coding standards in gnu.org/prep/standards, node
> References.
>
> That rule is needed because if we ever recommended a nonfree program
> it would cast doubt on our commitment to our principles.

I definitely agree with you RMS. I have big respect for you, as a
programmer and a philosopher, and I have a question for you:
What if non-free software does not have an alternative? Or there is one,
but most people don't use it anyway. Or if the software itself is free,
but it is on some company servers, like say gitlab. 

People choose to use non-free services (programs, hardware,
prenumerations, etc) all the time. Yes, often they don't have choice
because market powers have understand that by limiting peoples choice,
they will force them to choose more expensive or worse alternative.
Sure.

But if we look at OS arena, nowdays there is very good free choice,
yet it has very small share of the market. Why? Faimilarity? Latency?
Laziness? I dont' know. Maybe this will change with milleinal generation
that is used to different guis and interaction models then Windows or
Mac, but there is still something more to it. Milleinals, at least here
in Sweden, love their Macs. At university I see almost every student
running around with a Mac. Why people wish to pay double the price for
the hardware with inferior OS that invades on their privacy? I have no
idea. Pretty looks, status symbol, fashion/conformancy to group? I have
no answer myself, it is just a reflection over what I see.

The world is as it is, not as it should be (in my eyes or your eyes). I
think one has to go where people are if one wish to engage them, not to
wait for people to come over.

Off topic:
Another scary scenario is when techonology is used to control people. If
Yuval Harari is correct in his analysis ("21 Lessons for 21 century",
"Homo Deus"), then there sure might be very good reasons to fear
any software that isn't open (open not free) and built by one self. But
openess and/or freeness of the softwre is not the guarantee from the
opression. When opression becomes legal, i.e. when opressive political
forces take over, they might force people to use whatever technoology
they find needed to exercise the control, regardless if it is for a good
cause like protecting people from getting Covid-19 or for hindering
people to express and exercise their free will.