Many ideals come with a scale that, as we progress, we must recalculate constantly. This scale is the flexibility this ideal will offer us.
I support free software and the FSF. If I had one of those laptops that can run with free software exclusively, I would use it. I like the idea of discarding software that isn't open and friendly to developers and users alike.
For me, it's an easy way to eliminate things that I'm on the fence about. Is it proprietary? Ah, don't need it. I use plain text and ODF files to save documents and I'm making my way over to OGG Vorbis. But sometimes I do need or want software that isn't free. nVidia drivers, for example. Wi-fi card drivers. The FSF used to say that the support in Linux for 3D applications was non-free, though the code has since been re-released under a new license.
I would love to be like Stallman and refuse to use hardware and software that isn't free. It seems delightfully minimalist in its appeal; discarding the inferior and unnecessary for a greater cause. It's a shame that we're so tantalizingly close as well; I only run a handful of software that isn't free on either computer, save Windows 7 (for games and school related Windows applications). It's so close. It would almost feel a little more fair if free software wasn't as close as it is today, just so that it didn't have to bother me.
But in the situation I'm currently in, having a attitude of inflexibility will get me nowhere. It's sad, but it's true.
Despite this, I'm still downloading gNewSense so I have a free software testing LiveCD lying around. I wish they's release more details about their 3.0 release, which will be based on Debian.
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