Subj : Re: Windows vs Linux
To   : tenser
From : boraxman
Date : Sun May 01 2022 17:45:09

 te>  bo> Which I don't disagree with, and is forward looking.  Freedom require
 te>  bo> both, the ability to understand, modify, configure and compose softwa
 te>  bo> at the higher level, and the ability to actually build it and run it 
 te>  bo> a lower level.
 te>  bo> 
 te>  bo> The former cannot exist without the latter, but the latter without th
 te>  bo> former is pointless.
 te> 
 te> The latter is essential the former.  What does it matter what
 te> you do to configure your "free" desktop and shell environment
 te> when you can no longer boot it because the platform vendors
 te> have locked you out at the firmware level?  Or when you can
 te> no longer get an X server that works on your hardware because
 te> the graphics adapter vendors have decided that they just won't
 te> tell the X people how to program the hardware?  That is the
 te> point.
 te> 
 te> Fortunately, Linux is too important now to lock out entirely.
 te> But vendors don't care about Xorg or Wayland, and the firmware
 te> folks could well require signed kernels to boot, in which case
 te> your "freedom" to configure your own kernel is gone.  And if
 te> that kernel only runs signed binaries?  Forget it (and yes,
 te> Linux supports that, and yes, it's used in data centers).
 te> 
 te> --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)

I agreed that being able to use your hardware at a fundamental level was necessary, but the original point I was making was orthogonal to this.  It was that a sense of freedom at a higher level (at the application level and higher) was based on the functionality the software gave you, the documentation that gave you, and the way in which the disparate pieces that form your system can be put together the way you want.

To use an analogy, I was talking about your freedom to drive your car wherever you like, at any time you like, taking whatever route you feel is good for you, whereas you're talking about the ability to start the car at all.  Yes, the former freedom is useless without the latter, but it still warrants discussion.

--- 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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