Agree wholeheartedly. I'm a linux/GPL proselytizer among my friends. I've customized my development environment beyond recognition; I love it. That's what techn

Agree wholeheartedly. I'm a linux/GPL proselytizer among my friends. I've customized my development environment beyond recognition; I love it. That's what technology is to me: the ability to transform the world around me using my imagination. It's a beautiful, empowering feeling that I wish everyone could feel. Every day I am saddened by enormous drift between what I know is possible with today's already existing technology (we cary supercomputers in our pockets!) and what we are actually doing with it (supercomputers we use as neutered mass-media consumption and ad-delivery devices). I also know a lot of non technical people. Even young people, smart professional people, politically aware people; just not technical. And to 99% of the public, control is even more of a non-issue than privacy / censorship / security. "This glowing rectangle is a black box, why should I care if company A locks it down with binary blobs or if company B releases it under some GP-I-dunno-what?" Even technology companies choose slack over improving and extending open standards. Convenience is a bitch. Sadly, the only selling point I see today for p2p is piracy. The only issue that will get people riled up is when they lose free access to their favorite TV show. Which only further stigmatizes the hacker mindset as a front for would-be criminals. Privacy is somewhat making its way to the general population, but the message is muddled and confusing to most. I wish I had a solution. How do you sell the inherent beauty of open, hackable technology to non-geeks? Selling it on its social merit alone seems too abstract.