Subj : Re: Windows vs Linux
To   : tenser
From : boraxman
Date : Mon Apr 25 2022 12:34:20

 te> Except, as I have pointed out, you cannot use your machine
 te> "as you see fit."  Do you have any idea what runs in SMM mode,
 te> or what's peripherals are saying to each other behind a PCI
 te> bridge, or what the firmware in your graphics card is doing?
 te> 
 te> RMS acolytes waxing eloquent about emacs while missing the
 te> obvious issues entirely is sophomoric pseudo-intellectualism.
 te> 
 te> Moreover, if the software I want to run to do work I care
 te> about doesn't exist for the "free" platform, then how "free"
 te> am I, really?  I can't use the tool I have for the purpose I
 te> intended, thus limiting my "freedom."  "Our hammers aren't
 te> compatible with mainstream nails" isn't actually a great look.
 te> "The nails need to change" as an absolutism doesn't work.
 te> 
 te> Besides, weren't you the person asking, "why should I care
 te> about supporting the kernel?"
 te> 
 te> --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)

I think you are just being argumentative for the sake of being argumentative. Your line of reasoning just doesn't make any sense.  Not knowing how my PCI cards are communicating has no impact on me, or almost anyone else.  Your argument is bordering on sophistry.  Very, very few people buy computers specifically for the purposes of controlling how the CPU sends data to a PCI or AGP card, or to have control over the firmware in a hard drive.

We don't experience limitations if now knowing doesn't result is us not being able to use it.

Your freedom comes from being able to use the tool to solve your problems.  Computers compute.  The more freedom you have to define your computational problems, to implement your solutions, as you need it, the freer you are.  The less that the hardware or software limits you, or is the embodiment of an external vision constrianing you, the freer you are.

I've stated that the Free Software people miss the point, so I agree there.  Free software doesn't give me freedom if I cannot practically EXPERIENCE it.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
 * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

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