From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "James K. Lowden" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: General advice beyond Org Date: Sat, 19 May 2018 18:31:55 -0400 Organization: http://www.NewsDemon.com Message-ID: <20180519183155.caea7e3c88b046e85a82e888@speakeasy.net> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: blaine.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: blaine.gmane.org 1526769212 12699 195.159.176.226 (19 May 2018 22:33:32 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@blaine.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 19 May 2018 22:33:32 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun May 20 00:33:28 2018 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by blaine.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1fKAPl-00039f-GJ for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 20 May 2018 00:33:25 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:44506 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fKARs-0001jq-HK for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sat, 19 May 2018 18:35:36 -0400 Original-Path: usenet.stanford.edu!goblin2!goblin.stu.neva.ru!newsfeed.xs4all.nl!newsfeed7.news.xs4all.nl!85.12.16.69.MISMATCH!peer02.ams1!peer.ams1.xlned.com!news.xlned.com!peer02.am4!peer.am4.highwinds-media.com!peer01.iad!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!post01.iad!fx36.iad.POSTED!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help X-Newsreader: Sylpheed 3.4.3 (GTK+ 2.24.28; x86_64--netbsd) Original-Lines: 62 Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@newsdemon.com Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 19 May 2018 22:31:55 UTC X-Received-Bytes: 3768 X-Received-Body-CRC: 16566566 Original-Xref: usenet.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:222660 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.21 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "help-gnu-emacs" Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:116781 Archived-At: On Fri, 18 May 2018 00:28:22 +0000 edgar@openmail.cc wrote: > _I_ need help. I am in graduate school, and I keep having issues with > my advisor for my strong inclination to use free software. I am > obviously not in position to refuse, but she dislikes to have > discussions about it. She pays a stipend to me every month, and my > tuition is waved. Question #1: How important is your strong inclination, measured in dollars? Because we all have to go along to get along, to some extent. Every place I've ever worked used at least some proprietary software. Every place had the need to exchange modifiable files. The desire to move from Windows to, say, Qt was nil. The need to share information trumps concerns about software licensing every time. The need to keep using what you know trumps touted features of what you'd have to learn. If you don't believe me, ask someone whose department switched to Git from Subversion. Your advisor is only the tip of the iceberg. Really, she's a messenger from the real world, a place where you'll have to learn to use software you don't like, and deal with many other contraints and impositions on your freedom to get the job done. All organizations have rules, after all, by definition. If you're trying to defend your ideals, it might help to remember you can't, because everything is connected to everything else. During the Vietnam war, it wasn't uncommon for someone to declare their opposition to the war meant they refused to work for a defense contractor. OK. Banking, then? But banks finance defense contractors. McDonalds? They feed defense contractor employees. Academia? You're training new defense contractors. No matter how you earn your bread, your employer and your earnings eventually feed the same maw. If you're just trying to pamper your fingers, it might help to remember you can. To the extent others are unaffected, you'll usually be free to choose what software to use. That will be more true in technical and scientific areas, and less true in business and administrative ones. How much independence you have depends on how expert you are. If you need guidance in how to accomplish a task, any task, you can't expect the person helping you to *also* learn your software. Usually help comes in the form of "using X do Y", and if you don't have X, you have to figure out what X(Y) is. If you know the problem domain and your software very well, the route to X(Y) is shorter than if you don't. One last point that's often underappreciated: if you use whatever software you're asked/expected to use, then if you have problems or delays -- as you certainly will -- you'll have a sympathetic ear. If you insist on doing it your own way, others will blame every problem or delay, fairly or not, on your choice of software. Before you buck the system, it pays to get buy-in or to be very, very sure you'll come out ahead. --jkl