Re: A challenge for community to go beyond what's already rule

[Yoni Rabkin]

thiago@softwarelivre.net.br writes:

>    Hey there!
>
>    Although I do support this kind of initiative (of new Libreboot laptop
>    stores), and I am a supporter of libreboot / coreboot as well as Free
>    Libre / Open Source Hardware, I would like to ask you all here:
>
>    Couldn't we have more popular prices? What do we have to do to boost
>    more popular projects?
>
>    I mean, it's awesome the new store, but after opening it, I felt the
>    same disappointment from before. I still wait for more popular & fair
>    options. Who can & will pay for a retro with such prices? I can't, so
>    seeing such stores feels like a distant dream.
>
>    I am from a foreign country, with its money devalued in comparison to
>    your currencies. These prices are for rich gringos, for your own people
>    and not for a broader community. I will never have the chance to get a
>    Librebooted ThinkPad from any of the sellers I know (and I would like
>    to support you) simply because it becomes too expensive. I bet there
>    are lots of young (or older) free software/hardware enthusiasts fom the
>    UK that can't pay for these laptops, and no relativisms can make such
>    prices seem fair.
>
>    The community, I guess, lacks very much options for getting popular
>    Librebooted ThinkPads. How to help expanding free software and hardware
>    in scenarios like this? These prices are over, so we will never support
>    your stores because we can't. We can just try to do it ourselves,
>    paying fair prices getting used pieces (just as yours) from people that
>    doesn't know that there are companies selling it for much more because
>    it is "libreboot".
>
>    Even when it comes to offering the service of installing Libreboot or
>    whatever, I just see obscene prices. I buy a compatible ThinkPad with
>    less than you (several stores) want to charge just for the service.
>
>    Where are we going? Do we want to make things more popular and make the
>    whole strong, or do we want a small community of FSF members and
>    Librebooted laptop owners?!

The prices Leah lists are fair.

Please remember that when you see a "cheap" price of a laptop somewhere
it is because that corporation is subjugating people to bring that price
down; the people who built that laptop do not partake in the profits. An
inexpensive and shiny new laptop is just the vanguard of an oppressive
system, or a rich corporation/government giving out "charity" in order
to gain control over people. Please don't compare Leah's prices to
those.

I realize that this explains the situation but does nothing to solve
it. This is because what you are pointing out is the broader problem of
world-wide income inequality. I can't solve that problem, and neither
can Leah, but Leah is not making it any worse by offering services to
some.

I agree that the situation as a whole is ugly and unfair. But I don't
want blame apportioned to people who are doing good.

-- 
   "Cut your own wood and it will warm you twice"