Re: Emacs Mac port

[David Kastrup]

Jean-Christophe Helary <address@hidden> writes:

>> On Dec 29, 2015, at 15:47, Richard Stallman <address@hidden> wrote:
>> 
>>> many friends
>>> of mine who were long-time GNU/Linux users work on OS X today, me
>>> included
>> 
>> Thus our stance is that a person who moves from GNU/Linux to MacOS is
>> being self-destructively foolish.  We take this seriously and we must
>> speak and act in accord with it.  This way, we can influence some
>> people.
>
> My personal opinion is that people do not switch to MacOS but rather
> to Apple machines which are typically better built than standard Intel
> based machines. It is the robustness of the hardware that appeals to
> most users, not the OS.

Shrug.  Linus Torvalds at one time used a Macbook Air for his
development IIRC, but obviously not running MacOS X on it.  So his
personal freedom was not hampered much more than with other typical
hardware choices.  It still lends financial support to a powerful
company who is rather firmly invested against the goals of the GNU
project for one thing and a number of issues concerning freedom and
computing for another.

> To have more people switch to a GNU/Linux system, you would have to
> find a maker that builds high quality machines for a price similar to
> what Apple offers (which is in all likeliness not possible) and offers
> similar flawless integration between the OS and the machine (which is
> possible).

Shrug.  To have more people switch to a GNU/Linux system, you need to
make them care about software freedom.  Locking people into their
choices results in money and power, both of which can partly be
reinvested to sweeten the deal.

It's the "Open Source movement" which thinks it can "win" on those
terms.  But you don't "fight" an empire by waiting until it
self-destructs before starting recruitment.  We will not beat Apple at
their game.  We can just offer a good way forward for those willing to
quit Apple's game.  And what we can offer these days requires much less
determination to choose than it did at one time.

But there will always be a personal cost to stop running with the herd
as long as the herd is not going straight off a cliff.

-- 
David Kastrup