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: Sun, 3 Aug 2008 17:51:10 +0000 Message-ID: <20080803175110.GA6025@muc.de> References: <570553.73339.qm@web95014.mail.in2.yahoo.com> <20080731093022.GB2886@muc.de> <20080801153128.GB13919@muc.de> <20080802171212.GA2138@muc.de> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1217785835 16950 80.91.229.12 (3 Aug 2008 17:50:35 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2008 17:50:35 +0000 (UTC) Cc: dhruva@ymail.com, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: "Richard M. Stallman" Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Aug 03 19:51:25 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 1KPhjm-0004v9-MT for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:51:23 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:45890 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KPhir-0003Nv-5Y for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:50:25 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KPhin-0003No-Ga for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:50:21 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KPhik-0003NH-4H for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:50:21 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=33054 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KPhij-0003NE-PU for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:50:17 -0400 Original-Received: from colin.muc.de ([193.149.48.1]:3580 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 1KPhii-0002Bi-OW for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:50:17 -0400 Original-Received: (qmail 77584 invoked by uid 3782); 3 Aug 2008 17:50:10 -0000 Original-Received: from acm.muc.de (pD9E51682.dip.t-dialin.net [217.229.22.130]) by colin2.muc.de (tmda-ofmipd) with ESMTP; Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:50:06 +0200 Original-Received: (qmail 6438 invoked by uid 1000); 3 Aug 2008 17:51:10 -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:102000 Archived-At: Hi, again! On Sat, Aug 02, 2008 at 09:33:21PM -0400, Richard M. Stallman wrote: > I think it would "do you good" to spend a week using only > proprietary software on a Microsoft Windows system; I don't think > you're aware of just how sucky it is. > If I did all my work in Emacs, as usual, I might not notice much difference. Er, "using only proprietary software ....". The whole idea is that you _would_ notice. You know, use the whole works, Microsoft Word, Outlook Express, Visual Studio (or, if you've been suffering from a lack of vomitting in the recent past, Lotus Notes), Clear Case (a proprietary VCS system), ....... To be honest, I wouldn't do that either if somebody suggested it to me. But if you did try this, you might then be a bit more sympathetic to those who percieve that type of software to be modern, efficient, and OK. > If you were, you'd realise that campaigning on the basis of > software quality in addition to freedom could be effective indeed. > I am sure it IS effective for convincing people to use GNU/Linux when > that is more convenient. I want to convince people to insist on > freedom even when it is inconvenient. I see my task, miniscule though my personal contribution might be, to be to make freedom convenient. Several of my colleagues over the years have told me they don't care about software freedom, they want the tools which get their job done best. You can't argue with that, it's consistent and honest. I think free software should cater to them, too. I don't think many software people really do care that much about freedom. To make people value freedom over convenience, I think you'd have to first convince them that any incovenience would be minor. -- Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).