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

[Ranjit Babu]

On Thu, 11 Apr 2002, Pappu wrote:

> 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.
	To the average user - my Bio prof. for example, freedom has little
to do with the way he uses software. To the developer, this freedom is a
very significant issue. Surely, we can go on and on telling him that
freedom is a good thing to have, but that concept must manifest itself in
his day-to-day life.

> Even though this is not the topic of discussion in this thread, let me
	We are all for projecting 'freedom' as the goal of Free Software.
The only way you can negate the 'low cost' argument is by stressing on
this. So I believe, this discussion should very well be part of this
thread.

> 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.
	Excellent thought; except.. again.. how practical is this? Is
there a friendly neighbourhood developer avail;able to each and every user
who has the time and skill to modify code for others?

>  >  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.
	Changing user priority isn't really required. I believe a software
product is essentially for 'use'. What drives the programmer? The scope of
usage I think..

> 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?

	Let's look at that from another point. Your grandfather (and mine
perhaps!) may have found trains 'more usable' then. The point is that..
today, trains may be 'less usable' but the trains still run don't they?
Free software in India does not have anything 'usable'. Why not promote
GNU/Linux in terms of usability and inherent freedom ? If it doesn't turn
out to be usable, its up to the community to make it so. Arguments for the
cost aspect and anything else will take a secondary role; cost will
fluctuate anyway.

Ranjit