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author | MS <ms@taler.net> | 2020-07-22 14:53:45 +0200 |
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committer | MS <ms@taler.net> | 2020-07-22 14:53:45 +0200 |
commit | 2d97ecc2c1ac605ca49e8a866b309daaeb7a831c (patch) | |
tree | 173f7917c5d0af822d2d51ed491c3cf2d8eaf23f /talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_42.html | |
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Installing the Blog
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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_42.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_42.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8263f0b --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_42.html @@ -0,0 +1,94 @@ +<!-- 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. + --> + + + <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="2"/> + |