Why do we believe in open source software?

I wanted to share my response to some comments on my last post.


First, thanks for your responses.

Justin: "Free Software is not about technology or even about making the world a better place. It's about Freedom."

Are you sure about that? What is the real reason we support open source? In my opinion it *IS* for the purpose of making the world a better place. If first-world countries spend resources to develop high-quality open source software, then all of humanity will benefit from that investment.

Open source software is not always better quality than proprietary software, but I do believe it is always ethically superior.

Lonnie: "I agree with what Justin Findlay said..."

I also want to ask you what is the "big-picture" reason for supporting open source software? Please share your opinion.

I agree with your description of the average user, and it is something that we need to keep in mind when making decisions about software.

"Then she will complain loudly."

The thing is, we don't want her to complain loudly. If she has a bad experience because of not being able to view a Flash website, she will associate the bad experience with Linux. Since you mentioned psychology, I would point out this chain of events is an example of classical conditioning (review the Little Albert experiment).

Unable to view flash website (US) => Frustration (UR) Natural response.

Unable to view flash website (US) + Big Ubuntu Linux logo (CS) => Frustration (UR) After pairing them.

Big Ubuntu Linux logo (CS) => Frustration (CR) Learning occurs. Notice how the response never changes.

In the case of Little Albert, he started to generalize the conditioned stimulus with other items that were similar to the original stimulus. In the case of your Mom, this can happen so that she feels frustrated whenever she sees any Linux, open source, or free software. Do you think that will help us achieve our goals?

I do not believe in "sacrificing principles for popularity", just for the sake of popularity. As I have stated, popularity is a necessary step to get the industry to take notice of our needs.

Step 1: Gain popularity.
Step 2: ??? (Flex muscles)
Step 3: Profit!!! Err... I mean "Become completely open source"

Comments

  1. Unknown11/22/2006 8:04 AM

    I am sorry, but you must be wrong. If you were correct that frustration would be attached to the vendor of the OS, then Windows would be the *most* hated OS in history.

    I have talked to a huge number of average users (did tech support for MSN a few years ago). Most users will become extremely frustrated with their computers at some time. It is usually caused by viruses or spyware, but has also been known to be caused by vendor lock-in, proprietary formats, etc. Most of these users continue to use and like Windows. They blame their frustration on many people/organizations, including manufacturers, Microsoft, software developers, tech support, sun spots, etc.

    Your linked experiment makes great sense, but in reality, it doesn't truly happen. Windows still has the market share.

    I think we should:
    1. Gain popularity, but not sacrificing principles. Advertise benefits of Linux.
    2. Create Free substitutes of desired non-free apps/drivers.
    3. Profit!!! (aka Freedom)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tristan Rhodes11/22/2006 3:13 PM

    Lonnie:

    I think most Windows users *are* frustrated with Windows. That OS is the topic of jokes in every department. Even so, Windows has the market share. This will stay that way until an OS comes along that is considerably better. It can't just be as good as Windows, because that would not be worth the effort to learn the new system. I believe that Ubuntu Linux will become the OS of choice for everyday users to replace Windows.

    You never answered my question about why you believe in open source. Is "freedom" the final answer, the end of the discussion? Or is "freedom" simply a method that is used to make the world a better place? You already know my opinion.

    I was trying really hard to convince you to agree with me, but it looks like we must agree to disagree. :) We really have the same opinion on Step 3, so hopefully together we can help accomplish that goal!

    Thanks for your opinions, I enjoy learning what other people have to say about these topics.

    ReplyDelete

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