I often wonder if free software will be co-opted, or if it will change some aspects of the economy. I hope for the latter, of course.
Everyone I know likes free software, or the idea of it. That it exists at all is a salient reminder of community, of the good things in life.
On the other hand, I cannot ignore the fact that it's still computer software. Much of it is ideologically capitalist. Some of it (Fido,pgp) is anarchist, or somewhat socialist (fsf), but it's mostly apolitical.
I know that free software, which I got into in the late 80's, seriously affected my politics, so much so that I cannot distinguish just where that influence lies.
>I don't want to end without mentioning my end-user's personal impression
>of using Linux: what an unexpected delight it is to run a system where
>you are allowed to know. You wouldn't guess that aspect would be so
>pleasant for an end-user. For a ill-trained small-business network
>admin, resigned to repeatedly banging his forehead against the
>commercial software business's brick wall of secrecy, some problems are
>insoluble with proprietary software. You might be just an inch away
>from your answer, but as the vendor's income must be protected, you are
>not allowed to know. There's a lot in Linux (everywhere else too, I
>guess) I don't know yet, and there's a lot of stuff I'm not smart enough
>to ever figure out, but at least using Linux you just aren't ever going
>to slam into that aggravating, man-made, profit-motivated barrier. It
>feels so great, kind of like being asthmatic all your life, then
>relocating to Tucson.
>
>Yours WDK - WKiernan at concentric.net
I like linux for that exact reason. If someone asks "can I do this", usually, within a couple hours, you can figure out if it is possible. With NT or the Mac, all you can do is dig around the web or read a catalog and speculate. With Linux, you just get it and read the docs.
It's not easy enough for most people, but that day will come. All it takes is a super-programmer to make software for a programmer, a programmer to make software for a power user, and a power user to make software for a smart user, and then, the smart user to make it for the user with no interest in computers. The growth is geometric.
We're now at the stage where programmers develop for power users.
I think left politics could really use that kind of fanning-out of influence. Right now, the vibe I get from publications like the Nation is that popular bands like Rage Against the Machine are not recognized as vital propagandists for their cause.
John Kawakami johnk at cyberjava.com http://www.riceball.com/ethnoveg - the ethnic studies + vegetarianism list