On Sunday 08 April 2012 14:11:23 Roger Luedecke wrote:
On Sun, 2012-04-08 at 21:26 +0200, Victor hck wrote:
"We are a community far more than a product."
I like that !!
People in my generation and later grew up in a world where software is a static thing, and a product to be purchased. Getting away from that idea is difficult.
Free software is about the right to share. As such, it is a fundamentally pro-social behavior. Every program represents the hopes, dreams, and efforts of people working together and sharing. It is important to work towards and idea of software as a community rather than as a product... especially seeing as that does in fact represent the truth of Free Software. People come to Linux, still clinging to the proprietary customer-product paradigm. It occurs to me, that perhaps we do not do enough to break this bad habit. Our paradigm seems new to people coming from the Windows world... but in truth, it is ancient. Indeed, I think it is what Karl Marx referred to when he spoke on "primitive communism." Sharing is the basis of community, and thus Free Software by definition is more community than the sum of its products.
Roger: you're right on so many levels. Great article, too! I'd love to see more of this. Maybe we can even re-use some of this - eg do the same thing as with Helen's article, translate and get this one in a few magazines! -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+owner@opensuse.org