[Fsf-india] Freedom, affordable costs...

[Pappu]

On Thursday, 11 April 2002 13:16:54 +0530, Ranjit Babu wrote:
 > When we talk of freedom, we primarily mean the freedom to modify code and
 > use it without being policed. 
There are four  freedoms that has to be available,  to make a software
free software. 
  1) the freedom to use the software for any purpose possible
  2) The freedom to help yourselves  by modifying the software to suit
     your requirement
  3) The freedom to help your  neighbor by distributing copies of the
     software 
  4) The  freedom  to build  a  community  by  enhancing software  and
     redistributing the enhanced version. 
All  four  of  these  freedoms  are equally  important.  Please  visit
www.fsf.org for more details on free software.
 > What  significance does  this freedom  hold for  a user  who cannot
 > understand code or modify it? 
This is a  different issue from what we are discussing  here and in no
way proves that the four freedoms are important. Software freedom is a
matter of liberty and not `a what use is it` issue. 

Freedom in  real life is important.  As early as  recorded history can
show us,  human beings  have seen freedom  as more important  than any
thing, even  life. People died and  killed each other  (they still do)
for freedom.  Now, computer  science is a  relatively new  field (just
over 50 years)  and computers have entered the  common man's life only
about 10  years ago. So  people may find  it difficult to  realize the
importance  of freedom  in  this context  and  will think  of lots  of
arguments to claim that it is  not required. There can be many counter
arguments and debates over this issue also. 

I would  request you to think  for yourselves,as a  human being first,
and a  member of a community, and  then as a computer  user, about the
importance of FREEDOM.  
 > Let's say  we have a Bio  professor who wants to  create a question
 > bank for quizzes. 
......
 > would *freedom* be the reason he chooses free software? 
I  don't know.  May be  he  won't. But  the purpose  of free  software
foundation and this list is to  help people like him to understand the
importance of freedom, and inform him  that freedom is a good thing to
have. 

Even though this is not the topic of discussion in this thread, let me
explain  (just  for  the  sake  of completeness)  the  advantage  free
software gives in this case. If  the Bio professor needs a new feature
added to  the software  he is using  (every computer user's needs will
increase as  time passes and each  individuals needs can  be very very
different), and if he is using free software, he can (since he doesn't
know programming) ask a friend  or pay a neighborhood developer to do
the task. But if he was using non-free software, he is entirely at the
mercy of the vendor. Before you  come back saying that he can approach
the vendor to  get the feature added,  let me tell you that  it is not
the way the proprietary software industry functions. 

A feature is  added only after market surveys  prove that majority of
the customers want that feature  and new customers can be attracted by
that feature. 

Any ways, this is off topic for this thread. Sorry.
 > existing software and improve its functionality; someday, these _may_ beat
 > the propretary product in performance. 
This  is  a secondary  advantage  of free  software.  If  we use  this
argument to propagate free  software, people will make statements like
the one above  and will easily prove that there  is no much advantage
in free software.  [Thank you, Ranjit for the example].  

 >  But product usage will always be the end-user's priority
This is  one of  the things that  we have  to try to  change. It  is a
difficult task,  but if we are  persistent, we will  achieve this goal
some day. 
 > is there  a broader meaning  to software freedom  or am I  short on
 > vital information here? 
Well,  freedom is  important  and more  important  than usability.  My
grandfather  tells me  that during  the pre  independence  days, every
thing (essential  services, infrastructure ...)  used to be  much more
better. But he was very very  happy when India became free, and though
he finds many `usability` problems in almost all day to day things, he
can't imagine going  back to the pre-independence days.  Even though I
have never had any pre-independence experience, I also don't want such
a situation either. What about you?

bye,
pappu.