Re: Sharing your free software / quarantine success story

[Jean Louis]

* LM <lmemsm@gmail.com> [2020-04-17 21:09]:
> On Fri, Apr 17, 2020 at 12:03 PM, you wrote:
> >
> > So no real buy-in for now. Although I guess that getting Sillicon
> > Valley to use free software is like playing the game in ultra-hard
> > mode. I'll keep trying, though.
> >
> 
> Not really surprising.  The School District where I work prefers to
> stick with vendors that offer full support rather than using Open
> Source software.

And where do you work in the work?

Maybe there could be advise for you where to revert, where to write
your requests so that you get heard and understood.

"Full support" and "Open Source" software are not opposites. I would
rather say "free software" then open source to indicate that the
question is about the freedom. Many proprietary software, including
those published on GitHub are open source but not free software. It is
good to give them reality.

There are many companies offering full support for free software
products. So far I know this is going on for last 2 decades, companies
made huge money offering support for free software -- thus finding
such companies should not be a problem. Yet you did not say where are
you, I could maybe find some references for you.

> Trying to share OER or FLOSS alternatives is an uphill battle in
> these kinds of situations.

Ah come on.

Define your presentation well, and get through. You can do it.

> However, I'm sure there are people who are in a situation where they
> don't have a lot of choices as to what they can use or access.
> Getting the word out to them about FLOSS alternatives and
> volunteering technical assistance could really be of benefit to
> them.

It is not alternative. In fact there is no alternative to free
software, we speak about freedom, liberty. There is no alternative to
freedom.

During this time of panic, you can see that Google and Apple are
abusing people with their proprietary software:

     *…Apple and Google have announced that they will work with
       national authorities to incorporate a so-called
       …[221]contact tracing… into their mobile operating
       systems, which will allow authorities to monitor contacts
       within the population.

221. 
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-10/apple-google-bring-covid-19-contact-tracing-to-3-billion-people

Just point out to issues with proprietary software. Even my friend who
always used Google applications now tells me he does not want to use
it any more.

Point out to issues of proprietary software.

Every school should use free software so that they can further
education and learn out of it.

> By the way, I've seen a lot of groups using Zoom.  It doesn't even
> work on my main laptop.  I've been posting to the groups and letting
> them know they aren't reaching everyone with the tools they're using
> and mentioning alternatives if they're interested.

There is no alternative to free software. Free software is not
alternative. The reason to use free software are the four freedoms,
there is no alternative to freedom. Thus free software is not really
alternative to proprietary software. I understand fully your point
now, and the type of expressing it, surely I do. I am trying to give
you my viewpoint.

The viewpoint is from freedom viewpoint. If you cannot know what
computing commands are executed in your home, office or school, while
using proprietary software, well -- that means user is prone to abuse,
and mostly is abused, if user know it or not. Millions of people on
this planet are abused without knowing it.

Educating school officials that execution of programming commands
without any control from the school side is not responsible, that it
can be dangerous, that it cannot be controlled, and that all the
support would go down if company goes down -- those points you can
bring up to get through.

There is no alternative to freedom. You wish to know what is executed
on your computer or device. If you cannot verify it yourself, then
there are many people who maintain free software, they can verify
it. It is way easier to trust dozens and dozens of people who maintain
free software than a company which maintains proprietary software.

For free software there is support, just be specific, tell us which
free software is there, and there may be ways to find professional,
paid support from companies in your area for the specific software you
wish to offer.

Jean