Re: Sacrifices made for Free Software

[Jim Garrett]

I just read your blogs and...wow.  It's clear that you're educating
yourself in the best sense, and the college is being bureaucratic and
inflexible.

In reading this thread, I was initially siding with the folks
recommending that you bear with it up and finish college.  For some, or
most, that would the right answer.  But then reading your blog and
seeing that your area is computer science, I think it does make sense
to drop out and focus on your portfolio.  It seems that your
struggle is part of your education.  Clearly you won't be successful in
the mainstream...but with software there are successful activities
outside the mainstream.  For instance, Red Hat and Nextcloud are
successful.

If you'd like our community to bombard the dean with letters of
protest, just say the word!

As an aside, I've found that it doesn't occur to most people that
there exists an ethical dimension to software at all.  To them, it's not
a question of one mode being more ethical than another, it's thinking
about ethics at all.  Frankly I didn't see this clearly myself until
attending the LibrePlanet conference some years ago.  So I've been
putting it this way (which works better in e-mail than in person):
- In today's world, is information important?  Is there an ethical
  dimension to information and communications?  Could there be power
  relationships involved?
- Are the tools and technologies we use to manage our information and
  communications important?  Is there an ethical dimension to those?
  Could there be power relationships involved?

Jim Garrett
Melrose, MA


On Mon, 08 Jun 2020 20:13:19 +0000
Davis Remmel <d@visr.me> wrote:

> > Of course people might argue the merits of college education to
> > start with  
> 
> I'll argue that. :)
> 
> I didn't even go to college because I saw it as a scam where most of
> the dollars goes to administration, not instruction.
> 
> To say some words about choosing a life of Free software: it has
> served me phenomenally well. I've used Free software in personal and
> professional life for a decade, and I would never have made as much
> money as I did (as the VP of Engineering at a data center ISP) if I
> didn't go down that path. All I know is directly attributable to
> being able to read and modify source code, to learn _deeply_ how
> systems work.
> 
> The people who matter, those who admin the big networks and write
> systems code, all agree with the Free philosophy and wouldn't be
> where they are, either, without going deep into it.
> 
> It is exactly that knowledge that has afforded me well. Reasoning
> about your work saying, "we'll use this because it is better because
> X," instead of, "nobody got fired for using Y," is very special--most
> "professionals" I've had to work with couldn't program a rice cooker,
> and fewer ever heard of GNU. Fad-Driven Development is a cancer, and
> the ones who get ahead are those who see it for what it is.
> 
> > People will generally take you more seriously  
> 
> I'd take the OP more-seriously if he stuck to his moral principles,
> and I would hire him before someone who graduated by "making a CPU
> out of a PIC" or wrote some CRUD web apps. There will always be other
> people who dismiss us because they don't understand us, but I would
> argue they aren't worth our time to begin with. It's a big world.
> 
> > You'll be in a better negotiating position to get work that that
> > requires less proprietary software and makes more money  
> 
> You don't get less of something (non-Free software) by using more of
> it. Money is a stupid construct, but it's quite nice that it falls
> from the sky upon those who took the path of greater
> resistance...those who learned a heck of a lot more than their peers
> by taking that path.
> 
> > You'll be in a better position to get work at all, considering how
> > the economy is moving  
> 
> To OP: don't ever settle! You're still young, but don't make the same
> mistake so many others do: to settle for a job, sacrificing a little
> of yourself for something/one else. The gift of Life is incredibly
> precious, and limited!, and you're here now so make the best use of
> your time. When you die, you'll be able to look back with nothing but
> a smile on the decisions you made, and you'll likely inspire others
> to follow in your footsteps. You can either be a leader or a
> follower, and the former sets the rules for the latter. I suggest
> leading by example; on that, you're off to a heck of a good start.
> 
> :)
> 
> --
> Davis
> 
> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
> On Monday, June 8, 2020 1:23 PM, Roberto Beltran via
> libreplanet-discuss <libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org> wrote:
> 
> >
> >  
> > > I studied for 2 years at SIUe before dropping out
> > > because it became impossible for me to continue and keep my
> > > freedom.  
> >
> > I don't want to make any assumptions about your financial situation
> > or past education experience or why you were studying, but for
> > others that might be in a similar position, I'm not sure this is a
> > good move.
> >
> > I graduated in 2018 and I've definitely done my share of
> > negotiating with professors and taking small hits to my grade to
> > avoid proprietary software. When it came down to it though, if it
> > was between graduating and freedom, I picked graduating.
> >
> > As a (perhaps broke or indebted) student you have little power.
> > You've tried your best move: organizing your peers, but it seems
> > this was ineffective. I think the next best move is to suck it up
> > for two measly years so you'll be in a position where as a
> > professional:
> >
> > 1.  People will generally take you more seriously
> > 2.  You'll be in a better negotiating position to get work that
> > that requires less proprietary software and makes more money 3.
> > You'll be in a better position to get work at all, considering how
> > the economy is moving
> >
> >     and further if you stay in and can carve out even 2 hours or so
> > a week you can try starting a libre student group. It can be
> > unofficial to start, don't let the bureaucracy spin your wheels
> > (this is where I messed up). You probably won't see the fruit from
> > that tree, but future students might.
> >
> >     On the other hand, by dropping out, sure you stop being a
> > victim in the context of your school that I've never heard of, but
> > you're setting yourself up to be more of a victim in society at
> > large where you're spending the rest of your life.
> >
> >     Of course people might argue the merits of college education to
> > start with, but I'm operating under the assumption that you've
> > weighed your options and decided college was a good move for you.
> >
> >     Best regards,
> >     Roberto Beltran
> >
> >
> > libreplanet-discuss mailing list
> > libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
> > https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss  
> 
> 
> 
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