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This poorly written article felt like a bridge to nowhere. After reading through two or three minutes of subtle slights against software freedom it seemed to en

This poorly written article felt like a bridge to nowhere. After reading through two or three minutes of subtle slights against software freedom it seemed to end halfway through a thought, as if the author had gone off to make a coffee and forgotten to finish a sentence before hitting send. I literally had to check the HTML code for an end-tag to make sure the transfer hadn't been interrupted. Amongst the many cavalier platitudes expressed, this one stood out: > "Most computer users don't care, and that's a perfectly valid decision to make." Not caring about stuff is never a valid decision to make. Because it's not a decision. It's just not caring.

em-bee 4y ago
Not caring about stuff is never a valid decision to make what good is it to care about this when there are not enough options to do anything about it. hopefully this will change as it did with phones. the first mostly free phone was the openmoko, expensive but underwhelming in its utility, now several years later there are much more usable alternatives like the fairphone. purism is still expensive, but eventually more choices will be available. until then my only option is to use what's i can get. so yes, i am making a choice to ignore the issue and get a cheaper device. and that's the same problem debian is facing. debian developers actually do care, but they have to face the reality that a firmware free system does not work well on most devices.
- nonrandomstring 4y ago
  > what good is it to care about this when there are not enough options to do anything about it. Care may lead you to develop options. Listen, I hear your frustration. But you are not carefully reading my words (which apply to anything, not just software). To declare that you "do not care" is not the same a "making a decision". That is the poor language used by the OP in TFA which I am taking to task. What I feel is happening when some people say they "don't care" - and I loathe to say it but it's mostly US Americans and so I think this is a cultural problem - is that they're really saying they're not prepared to fight for something important. That kind of nonchalant "styling it out" is really a kind of sour grapes, as when a spurned teenager says "So what if I didn't get invited to Mary's party. I hate Mary and didn't want to go anyway!" Pretending not to care is not the same as an active decision. I hope it makes sense that it's about language and attitude, not the predicament of Debian specifically.

em-bee 4y ago

Not caring about stuff is never a valid decision to make what good is it to care about this when there are not enough options to do anything about it. hopefully this will change as it did with phones. the first mostly free phone was the openmoko, expensive but underwhelming in its utility, now several years later there are much more usable alternatives like the fairphone. purism is still expensive, but eventually more choices will be available. until then my only option is to use what's i can get. so yes, i am making a choice to ignore the issue and get a cheaper device. and that's the same problem debian is facing. debian developers actually do care, but they have to face the reality that a firmware free system does not work well on most devices.

nonrandomstring 4y ago
> what good is it to care about this when there are not enough options to do anything about it. Care may lead you to develop options. Listen, I hear your frustration. But you are not carefully reading my words (which apply to anything, not just software). To declare that you "do not care" is not the same a "making a decision". That is the poor language used by the OP in TFA which I am taking to task. What I feel is happening when some people say they "don't care" - and I loathe to say it but it's mostly US Americans and so I think this is a cultural problem - is that they're really saying they're not prepared to fight for something important. That kind of nonchalant "styling it out" is really a kind of sour grapes, as when a spurned teenager says "So what if I didn't get invited to Mary's party. I hate Mary and didn't want to go anyway!" Pretending not to care is not the same as an active decision. I hope it makes sense that it's about language and attitude, not the predicament of Debian specifically.