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diff --git a/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_44.html b/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_44.html deleted file mode 100644 index 2237c91e..00000000 --- a/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_44.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,128 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/loose.dtd"> -<html> -<!-- This is the second edition of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman. - -Free Software Foundation - -51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor - -Boston, MA 02110-1335 -Copyright C 2002, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. -Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire book are permitted -worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice is -preserved. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations -of this book from the original English into another language provided -the translation has been approved by the Free Software Foundation and -the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all -copies. - -ISBN 978-0-9831592-0-9 -Cover design by Rob Myers. - -Cover photograph by Peter Hinely. - --> -<!-- Created on February 18, 2016 by texi2html 1.82 -texi2html was written by: - Lionel Cons <Lionel.Cons@cern.ch> (original author) - Karl Berry <karl@freefriends.org> - Olaf Bachmann <obachman@mathematik.uni-kl.de> - and many others. -Maintained by: Many creative people. -Send bugs and suggestions to <texi2html-bug@nongnu.org> ---> -<head> -<title>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 42. Overcoming Social Inertia</title> - -<meta name="description" content="This is the second edition of Richard Stallman's collection of essays."> -<meta name="keywords" content="Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 42. Overcoming Social Inertia"> -<meta name="resource-type" content="document"> -<meta name="distribution" content="global"> -<meta name="Generator" content="texi2html 1.82"> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> -<style type="text/css"> -<!-- -a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} -blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} -pre.display {font-family: serif} -pre.format {font-family: serif} -pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} -pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} -pre.smalldisplay {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} -pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} -pre.smallformat {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} -pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} -span.roman {font-family:serif; font-weight:normal;} -span.sansserif {font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal;} -ul.toc {list-style: none} ---> -</style> -<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../style.css"> - - -</head> - -<body lang="en" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080" alink="#FF0000"> - -<a name="Social-Inertia"></a> -<header><div id="logo"><img src="../gnu.svg" height="100" width="100"></div><h1>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.</h1></header><section id="main"><a name="Freedom-or-Power_003f"></a> -<a name="Overcoming-Social-Inertia"></a> -<h1 class="chapter">42. Overcoming Social Inertia</h1> - -<a name="index-citizen-values_002c-convenience-v_002e-7"></a> -<a name="index-citizen-values_002c-social-inertia-v_002e"></a> -<a name="index-Windows_002c-social-inertia_002c-short_002dterm-convenience_002c-and-_0028see-also-citizen-values_0029"></a> -<p>Almost two decades have passed since the combination of GNU and Linux -first made it possible to use a PC in freedom. We have come a long way -since then. Now you can even buy a laptop with GNU/Linux preinstalled -from more than one hardware vendor—although the systems they ship -are not entirely free software. So what holds us back from total -success? -</p> - -<p>The main obstacle to the triumph of software freedom is social -inertia. It exists in many forms, and you have surely seen some of -them. Examples include devices that only work on Windows and -commercial web sites accessible only with Windows. If you value -short-term convenience instead of freedom, you might consider these -reason enough to use Windows. Most companies currently run Windows, so -students who think short-term want to learn how to use it and ask -their schools to teach it. Schools teach Windows, produce graduates -that are used to using Windows, and this encourages businesses to use -Windows. -</p> -<p>Microsoft actively nurtures this inertia: it encourages schools to -inculcate dependency on Windows, and contracts to set up web sites -that then turn out to work only with Internet Explorer. -</p> -<p>A few years ago, Microsoft ads argued that Windows was cheaper to run -than GNU/Linux. Their comparisons were debunked, but it is worth -noting the deeper flaw in their argument, the implicit premise which -cites a form of social inertia: “Currently, more technical people -know Windows than GNU/Linux.” People who value their freedom would -not give it up to save money, but many business executives believe -ideologically that everything they possess, even their freedom, should -be for sale. -</p> -<p>Social inertia consists of people who have given in to social inertia. -When you surrender to social inertia, you become part of the pressure -it exerts on others; when you resist it, you reduce it. We conquer -social inertia by identifying it, and resolving not to be part of -it. -</p> -<p>Here a weakness holds our community back: most GNU/Linux users have -never even heard the ideas of freedom that motivated the development -of GNU, so they still judge matters based on short-term convenience -rather than on their freedom. This makes them vulnerable to being led -by the nose by social inertia, so that they become part of the -inertia. -</p> -<a name="index-call-to-action_002c-talk-about-freedom-1"></a> -<p>To build our community’s strength to resist, we need to talk about -free software and freedom—not merely about the practical benefits -that open source supporters cite. As more people recognize what they -need to do to overcome the inertia, we will make more progress. -</p> - -<hr size="6"> -</body> -</html> |