Re: [emacs-humanities] Has Emacs made you appreciate software freedom?

[Jean Louis]

* Protesilaos Stavrou <info@protesilaos.com> [2021-05-22 03:57]:
> So my questions to this list are:
> 
> + Do you think that Emacs helped/helps you value your liberties, as
>   those apply to your day-to-day computer experience?

Yes, as it is prime piece of GNU software with good references to the
licensing and free software philosophy. Without doing any productive
work a user may learn so much just by exploring documentation, jokes,
bugs, news, free software, GNU Manifesto and similar. It is sad to see
that Debian GNU/Linux removed some parts of RMS opinions and placed it
into non-free repositories. 

> + Do you believe that there is something to be learnt from Emacs and be
>   applied to other parts of life?  Could/should, for instance,
>   scientific research be conducted and publicised in a free,
>   collaborative fashion?

IMHO, Emacs is too little connected and integrated with
databases. Would it be done from beginning there would be so many
beautiful and useful packages. Scientific research does not deviate
much from any research. At instant I can think that access to
databases is the way to collaboration. 

About Dynamic Knowledge Repositories (DKR)
https://www.dougengelbart.org/content/view/190/163/

Dynamic Knowledge Repository can be developed with various databases
and as long as the databases support remote access that enables
collaboration straight from Emacs. Capturing pieces of information in
a database by multiple people from all over the world can be done
through Emacs. I hope to help with it.

> + More generally, do you see a connection between software freedom
>   and politics/economics?  Could/should the lessons drawn from Emacs
>   and free software in general (especially copylefted) be used as an
>   antipode to repressive forces, be they corporate actors or state
>   entities?

Connection is there through the marketing and power of companies
producing proprietary software including formats that bind users to
specific vendor. I don't know about lessons from Emacs. What we know
is that free software should be human right as no user would like
somebody uninvited coming his home and making a lap dance (unless he
likes the person), allowing proprietary software to be executed is an
uninvited lap dance and possible negative surprise with possible
damages. It requires users of free software to write to their
representative to remove proprietary software from governments, and to
demand that public money should be used for public software similarly
like it is in United States. 


-- 
Thanks,
Jean Louis

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