[CoLoCo] A Serious Issue Not Taken Seriously.

[David L. Willson]

I had always thought that "open-minded" meant "willing to understand and respect
another's opinion" without regard to whether that opinion agrees with my own.  I'm
disappointed by how often high horses' riders will use the words "open-minded" to mean
"agrees with me" or how often a pragmatist will describe a purist as "closed-minded".

A software freedom advocate may thoroughly understand the philosophy of "function before
freedom" or even "funtion, fuck freedom", but choose not to align with them, choosing
"freedom before function", instead.  I have this argument pretty regularly with
"gamers".  More games run on Windows than on Linux.  I use Linux, so I choose not to
join my friends in some games.  Does that make me closed minded?  I don't think so.  I
understand their thinking, their reasoning, their priorities, I've just chosen to
prioritize OS before game, and frequently, I choose freedom before function.  I hope
that others will think similarly, so that more companies like Red Hat and Canonical,
with their healthy regard for software freedom, will flourish.  Pure pragmatism will
have Linux always in single digits for market penetration, and I'd rather see free
software on the desktops of normal people one day.