social-inertia.html (6346B)
1 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> 2 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> 3 <!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> 4 <!--#set var="TAGS" value="essays upholding action" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>Overcoming Social Inertia 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/social-inertia.translist" --> 9 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 10 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> 11 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 12 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 13 <div class="article reduced-width"> 14 <h2>Overcoming Social Inertia</h2> 15 16 <address class="byline">by <a href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard 17 Stallman</a></address> 18 19 <p> 20 Almost two decades have passed since the combination of GNU and Linux 21 first made it possible to use a PC in freedom. We have come a long 22 way since then. Now you can even buy a laptop with GNU/Linux 23 preinstalled from more than one hardware vendor—although the 24 systems they ship are not entirely free software. So what holds us 25 back from total success?</p> 26 27 <p> 28 The main obstacle to the triumph of software freedom is social 29 inertia. It exists in many forms, and you have surely seen some of 30 them. Examples include devices that only work on Windows, commercial 31 web sites accessible only with Windows, and the BBC's iPlayer 32 handcuffware, which runs only on Windows. If you value short-term 33 convenience instead of freedom, you might consider these reason enough 34 to use Windows. Most companies currently run Windows, so students who 35 think short-term want to learn how to use it and ask their schools to 36 teach it. Schools teach Windows, produce graduates that are used to 37 using Windows, and this encourages businesses to use Windows.</p> 38 39 <p>Microsoft actively nurtures this inertia: it encourages schools to 40 inculcate dependency on Windows, and contracts to set up web sites 41 that then turn out to work only with Internet Explorer.</p> 42 43 <p> 44 A few years ago, Microsoft ads argued that Windows was cheaper to run 45 than GNU/Linux. Their comparisons were debunked, but it is worth 46 noting the deeper flaw in their argument, the implicit premise which 47 cites a form of social inertia: “Currently, more technical 48 people know Windows than GNU/Linux.” People who value their 49 freedom would not give it up to save money, but many business 50 executives believe ideologically that everything they possess, even 51 their freedom, should be for sale.</p> 52 53 <p> 54 Social inertia consists of people who have given in to social inertia. 55 When you surrender to social inertia, you become part of the pressure 56 it exerts on others; when you resist it, you reduce it. We conquer 57 social inertia by identifying it, and resolving not to be part of 58 it.</p> 59 60 <p> 61 Here a weakness holds our community back: most GNU/Linux 62 users have never even heard the ideas 63 of freedom that motivated the development of GNU, so they still judge 64 matters based on short-term convenience rather than on their freedom. 65 This makes them vulnerable to being led by the nose by social 66 inertia, so that they become part of the inertia.</p> 67 68 <p> 69 To build our community's strength to resist, we need to talk about 70 free software and freedom—not merely about the practical 71 benefits that open source supporters cite. And we need to resist 72 nonfree software by <a href="/philosophy/saying-no-even-once.html"> 73 taking action each time we can</a>, voicing our reasons out loud. As 74 more people recognize what they need to do to overcome the inertia, we 75 will make more progress.</p> 76 </div> 77 78 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 79 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 80 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 81 <div class="unprintable"> 82 83 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 84 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 85 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 86 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent 87 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 88 89 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 90 replace it with the translation of these two: 91 92 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 93 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 94 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 95 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 96 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 97 98 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 99 our web pages, see <a 100 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 101 README</a>. --> 102 Please see the <a 103 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 104 README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations 105 of this article.</p> 106 </div> 107 108 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to 109 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should 110 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this 111 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. 112 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the 113 document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 114 document was modified, or published. 115 116 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 117 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 118 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 119 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 120 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 121 122 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 123 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 124 125 <p>Copyright © 2007, 2021 Richard Stallman</p> 126 127 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" 128 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative 129 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> 130 131 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 132 133 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 134 <!-- timestamp start --> 135 $Date: 2021/09/05 10:10:09 $ 136 <!-- timestamp end --> 137 </p> 138 </div> 139 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 140 </body> 141 </html>