[extropy-chat] PR: Lanier trashing >Hism again...

[Emlyn]

On 17/08/05, Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 05, 2005 at 10:31:09AM +0930, Emlyn wrote:
> 
> > What I've noticed in recent times is an irrational predjudice toward
> > certain technologies, either in other areas from where I normally
> > focus (for me, the Linux world is this because I work in MS
> 
> You're missing something critical here:
> It's not a prejudice towards technologies, it's a political issue.
> Gratis versus libre, freedom versus slavery.

You know, I totally agree with this. Personally, I've always thought
the free (libre) software movement was a fantastic thing, I've just
been working (grinding) in the windows environment, for companies who
don't think that way, so it's been on my "meaning to check it out"
list. I assumed that my collegues would think similarly; it just seems
obvious. After all, in a commercial enterprise you are usually selling
services, or an end product of some kind that has commercial value,
but which relies on so many layers of complex software which in
themselves have no commercial value whatsoever (except that you need
them to exist). It always seemed obvious to me that even if you are
going to flog a proprietary product, all that infrastructure that it's
built on would be best being free, because you lose nothing and
probably end up getting better building blocks, and you end up
reinventing the wheel a whole lot less often (which in closed software
shops is probably the great bulk of the work, money thrown down the
toilet).

So now I'm checking out the free software world (good grief what a
learning curve, but hey you get that), and of course blathering on
about it. Distributing copies of "The Cathedral and the Bazaar". And
what's the response? Anything varying from a reserved "no comment to
blatant mistrust. Some guys refuse to hear anything about it; they
assume its a fairy tale. Some guys defend the closed technology while
obviously not having looked at the other side. And some people
actually go into a rabid attack mode - they really actually *hate* the
free software movement. Truly. But absolutely no one in my current
work environment has said "well, that sounds pretty amazing, tell me
more". Not one positive response.

So it really looks like a political issue. I guess that's to be
expected, given our close relationship with a certain Massive $oftware
company. But it's kind of tragic, because I see the same reaction from
people on the free software side of the fence (read Linux et al), to
the Windows world. Tragic, because there is a lot to be said for the
Windows based stuff too; just as there are things that Windows does
worse than Linux, there are things it does better too. This
oppositional thinking means a lot of babies going out with the bath
water.

otoh, I do see a growing movement of free software for the windows
platform, which I'm taking baby steps towards involving myself in.

> 
> > technologies), or toward new stuff (where I tell myself "oh, it's just
> > the same old stuff being peddled out again, better to stick with the
> > tried and true").
> 
> Yep. Way too many polygonal wheels out there.
It's good to be wary, but too much of this leads to a kind of
calcification I think.

> 
> > One warning though, doing this with Linux when you work in a Microsoft
> > shop earns you no friends, take it from me :-)
> 
> Yes. It's not about the technology, it's about control and loss of control.
> 

Which is really weird, because for most of the people engaged in the
world of proprietary software, letting go of a lot of control will
actually improve things for them. I think there are going to be two
ways for the market to learn this... the open minded, knowledge based,
cultural shift way, where current individuals change paradigm and play
on, or the darwinian way, which is a bit less fun.

-- 
Emlyn

http://emlynoregan.com   * blogs * music * software *