sigh … I think FOSS, GNU/Linux in particular, can never reach mass adoption as long as the world is like this. libre software cannot beat proprietary software unless you pass a law that bans the creation of proprietary software, or I don’t know, overthrow capitalism while we’re at it. you can get a usb stick with Linux mint on it and a hard drive and go house to house in your neighborhood and offer free migration to linux and a life-time of IT support, and you’ve still accomplished nothing compared to a single advertising campaign of Microsoft or Google or Apple. our cause might be noble and our intentions pure, but that doesn’t mean we can win against a company that can spend more on psychological manipulation of the masses than our collective income. if I recall correctly, Chrome OS got more market share in the last year than linux did since its beginning. if you get an average person to get Linux, I bet there’s a good chance the first program they wanna install is google chrome. so if you give them the freedom of installing it, you have enabled them to give up their freedom. it may seem contradictary, but I think freedom has to be enforced. like what FSF says, optinal freedom is not enough, if our goal is to set people free.

on a second thought, I don’t think even the collapse of capitalism would end the dominance of proprietary software, spying and tracking capabilities of proprietary software are still too tempting for any government to resist. if it’s free then you can just fork it without the crap. that wouldn’t be desirable for an institution trying to stay in control.

so do I think foss developers and foss users are wasting their time? hell no! that would be like criticising vegans for not eating meat, or environmentalists for not using products that have a bad effect on the evironment. it just that I think we won’t achieve our goals as long as we don’t seek fundamental change. ok, I must stop rambling xD