Vegetarianism & free software advocacy

7 thoughts
last posted Nov. 18, 2015, 3:51 a.m.

4 earlier thoughts

0

The analogy with free software advocacy then runs as follows:

  • if a free software advocate is trying to make you prefer to avoid proprietary software, then that's akin to vegetarians and vegans proselytising to folks that eat meat. This can be done gracefully by focusing on "These are the benefits I personally appreciate", and letting people decide for themselves whether or not those benefits matter to them, or we can be obnoxious about it by attacking people for not already being vegetarians/vegans/free software users/free software advocates. The latter might be emotionally satisfying in the near term, but it's not a particularly effective proselytisation tactic (since the most likely outcome is for people to tune out entirely).

  • conversely, demanding that a free software advocate use proprietary software for the sake of your convenience is akin to telling a vegetarian or vegan that you haven't bothered to provide a non-meat option for them at the dinner you invited them to. It's saying "Your personal principles make my life more complicated, so I'd like you to just abandon them, since that's easier for me".

2 later thoughts