From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Alan Mackenzie Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Release plans Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:30:22 +0000 Message-ID: <20080731093022.GB2886@muc.de> References: <570553.73339.qm@web95014.mail.in2.yahoo.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1217496636 474 80.91.229.12 (31 Jul 2008 09:30:36 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:30:36 +0000 (UTC) Cc: dhruva , emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Richard M Stallman Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Jul 31 11:31:26 2008 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1KOUUo-0001eB-B9 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:30:54 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:55867 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KOUTt-0004Tj-Qe for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:29:57 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KOUTm-0004Qi-7x for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:29:50 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KOUTl-0004Ot-1u for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:29:49 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=54843 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KOUTk-0004OE-Lu for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:29:48 -0400 Original-Received: from colin.muc.de ([193.149.48.1]:4069 helo=mail.muc.de) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1KOUTj-0003kN-Kh for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:29:48 -0400 Original-Received: (qmail 27635 invoked by uid 3782); 31 Jul 2008 09:29:45 -0000 Original-Received: from acm.muc.de (pD9E52908.dip.t-dialin.net [217.229.41.8]) by colin2.muc.de (tmda-ofmipd) with ESMTP; Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:29:43 +0200 Original-Received: (qmail 4425 invoked by uid 1000); 31 Jul 2008 09:30:22 -0000 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.9i X-Delivery-Agent: TMDA/1.1.5 (Fettercairn) X-Primary-Address: acm@muc.de X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: FreeBSD 4.6-4.9 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:101787 Archived-At: 'Morning, Richard! On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 09:59:40PM -0400, Richard M Stallman wrote: > To go on using Windows is a bad thing. Using Emacs at work is > certainly a way of informing other people there about GNU. But has it > opened up any possibility that you can stop using Windows there? I > don't think so. Is there any reason to think that will change in the > next year or two? If not, then I think this path does not lead to the > goal. > Have you looked for other work where you can use a free operating > system? We all agree that in an ideal world, we would be running free software exclusively. But we differ in the best way of approaching there from here. MS-Windows, like fossil-fuelled transportation, is something undesirable, but difficult to avoid without separating from mainstream society. If I were to reject paid work involving MS-Windows and (proprietary) Unix, I would need to find paid work outside of software development. I'm not prepared to go that far, and I don't think it's reasonable of you to expect this from me and other people on the mailing list. As far as I can, I run only free software at home. However my PC's BIOS is not free, and neither is the software in my DSL router - yet. Would you likewise suggest I should not use DSL until fully free firmware becomes available? Most of the places I work, the alternatives are (proprietary-OS Proprietary-aplications) and (proprietary-OS free-applications). I advocate the latter, showing people what free software can do. Sadly, the freedom in free software doesn't excite most people - Emacs's capabilities do, though. So, for that matter, does a 5 line AWK program as an alternative to stuffing a log file through Excel (a heavyweight proprietary spreadsheet program). Often, they show me cool features in proprietary software, and sometimes I hack up equivalents in my .emacs. If I were to reject work involving proprietary OS's, this wouldn't advance free software at all. The only people to notice would be the people who expect me to pay their bills, and hopefully the Emacs development team would notice my absence after my Internet line had been cut off. I suspect I am typical of most hackers here in that respect. -- Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).