Re: Advice Workplace that Forces Non-Free Software

[quiliro]

I think that this thread has brought up many issues. These are important
points for me to highlight. These situations force upon us compliance
because we either have no other income opportunities or because we are
not willing to earn less elsewhere:
* Serving an employer to help subjugate users by way of non-free
  software, with or without the user's consent.  
* Accepting to work under conditions others impose on us.
* Advantages (or maybe disadvantages) of being freelance over having a
  job.
  
All these issues are relative to the amount of subjugation we are
willing to accept upon us. The less you can take, the less money you
will get. Abiding by everyone else's wishes will get you more
opportunities, but less freedom.

I have noticed that having less and less money makes it easier to be
free and to enjoy the important things in life. Every year I spend about
20% less than I spent the previous year. I could do it because I have a
very detailed listing of all my expenditures with ledger-mode from
Emacs. Now I consider each expenditure as an investment. If investments
do not save money or generate money, they are worthless. The same with
other resources. They eventually bring me more comfort or dependence
depending on how much they generate. So I am no longer a slave of the
economic factor. That way I can gain more freedom every year. Of course,
I cannot use hardware which is under my control yet. But using all free
software is a great advancement from where I had been before! And
physical possessions are not the things that matter most in life.

Good luck on your own route to happiness. :-)