Re: [seul-edu] Software Freedom Season

[Jan Wilson <corocom@btl.net>]

* Randy Edwards <redwards@golgotha.net> [021002 10:08]:
> I've found many schools and businesses aren't interested in source
> code period.  They know they're never going to recompile things and
> they equate "custom programming" with "expensive."  It doesn't
> really matter if this is correct or not, but that's the way they
> feel.

I agree.  When I try to sell the idea of open source software I never
mention that they can make their own changes to the software ...
almost nobody I talk to has that capability.

What I HAVE found useful in workshops and other presentations, is to
say that because this software is open source, skilled programmers are
free to improve on the programs and to discover and fix security
holes.  The longer this movement continues, programmers will use
pieces of open source software to build new applications, giving users
several choices for each kind of application, rather than being stuck
with whatever Microsoft offers, at whatever huge cost they set.

As an aside, I am increasingly running into people who have been stung
with Product Activation ... making it difficult or impossible for them
to do something they feel they should have a legitimate right to do.
The "freedom" includes being free from the hassle of DRM and draconian
monopolistic strategies, as Randy mentioned.

-- 
Jan Wilson, SysAdmin     _/*];          corocom@btl.net
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