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Re: referencing non-free software
From: |
Ilya Shlyakhter |
Subject: |
Re: referencing non-free software |
Date: |
Tue, 9 Jan 2018 04:26:37 -0500 |
"the alternative that you found technically superior to another is the
nonfree one, and you expect that a user would most likely decide to
choose it rather than free one, when presented with all arguments, am
I right?" -- I expect that _some_ users will, yes. Which, in my
understanding, will be an exercise of freedom. Freedom means making
fully informed choices. A "choice" to use a free program made simply
because you were unaware of a non-free one can hardly be described as
freely made. Plus, users' awareness of the (technically better)
non-free program will incentivize the free program's authors to
improve it, an incentive currently lacking (and it shows -- the free
program has long languished at mediocre quality).
On Tue, Jan 9, 2018 at 4:11 AM, Dmitry Alexandrov <321942@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> It's one thing to promote free software by creating a free program
>>>> superior to a non-free one, pointing users to both, explaining the
>>>> advantages of the free program (including the freedom part), and
>>>> then letting the users decide. It's quite another thing to simply
>>>> hide the non-free program from users. ... Is the assumption here
>>>> that users are unable to see their own best interests, even when
>>>> presented with all the arguments? ... If no, why not point users
>>>> to both free and non-free alternatives and trust them to decide?
>>>
>>> ...
>>
>> My question grows out of the discussion here:
>> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/2018-01/msg00036.html
>
> Just to be clear, as (I suppose) few of subscribers there are able to judge
> about programs that run on iOS from their own experience.
>
> In this case, the alternative that you found technically superior to another
> is the nonfree one, and you expect that a user would most likely decide to
> choose it rather than free one, when presented with all arguments, am I right?
Re: referencing non-free software, Alfred M. Szmidt, 2018/01/09
- Re: referencing non-free software, Ilya Shlyakhter, 2018/01/09
- Re: referencing non-free software, Alfred M. Szmidt, 2018/01/09
- Re: referencing non-free software, Ilya Shlyakhter, 2018/01/09
- Re: referencing non-free software, Francesco Ariis, 2018/01/09
- Re: referencing non-free software, Ilya Shlyakhter, 2018/01/09
- Re: referencing non-free software, Ilya Shlyakhter, 2018/01/09
- Re: referencing non-free software, Francesco Ariis, 2018/01/09
- Re: referencing non-free software, Ilya Shlyakhter, 2018/01/09
- Why is it ethical not to write a program at all (Was: referencing non-free software), Dmitry Alexandrov, 2018/01/10