Subj : Re: Windows vs Linux
To   : boraxman
From : tenser
Date : Fri Apr 29 2022 13:06:31

On 28 Apr 2022 at 10:24p, boraxman pondered and said...
 
 bo>  te> I believe that's what you've honed in on, but the comment
 bo>  te> that precipitated that was you opining that making Linux
 bo>  te> more user-friendly is dumbing it down and opening the door
 bo>  te> to a loss of some sort of freedom as different use cases
 bo>  te> become favored, which is just not an accurate reading of
 bo>  te> things.
 bo>  te> 
 bo> 
 bo> A large reason for Free operating systems being free, is that no one
 bo> project, no one power, no one vision has enough power to be able to push
 bo> out competitors.  I did express a concern that Linux say, taking a
 bo> majority share of the desktop could lead to degradation of freedom. 
 bo> Such a scenario results in a higher probability of one company defining
 bo> what Linux is, and having potential clout to shape the desktop of the
 bo> majority of users, and make specific requirement which push out, or
 bo> exclude competition.  For example, using an app packaging system which
 bo> is closed source (for security reasons), or if PC's will only boot
 bo> signed kernels, and they can push for standards which only they, or only
 bo> large aligned distros can meet.

So things that are already happening in the firmware space.

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