So this Durrenmatt fellow doesn't use vaccines, or any result of one or a small set of individuals, since clearly they are bound to be failures? (of course vaccines or any such result are really a product of historical human effort, but I think that's a point that will be equally invisible to this chap).
> Sure, I agree with that. Individuals choosing products of socialist
> production will not bring about socialism. However, as I should
> probably note more often, individual choice does help shape social
> institutions.
More importantly, this sort of quote, IMHO, entirely misses the point. The focus in FOSS is not on one individual making a choice on what to install on her computer (Stallman's writing should make this, and the larger point, fairly obvious). It (this quote) is as if one were advising in favour of crossing a picket line because after all it is that one individual's choice on whether to cross the line or not. The act of picketing is the solution, the activity of FOSS is the solution. The individual who doesn't cross the line, or in some manner supports FOSS, is expressing solidarity, not solving the problem.
--ravi