Re: [Groff] antiquity of troff

[Walter Alejandro Iglesias]

Hello

Some of you seems to be Unix veterans.  I bought my first computer in
2005.  Before this date I did not know how to power on it :).

But I am forty two years old and I know something about other things
and I am able to draw an analogy.

In several occasions, I've attempted to show my point of view in other
mailing lists.  They was discussing about other software but, for me,
the point was the same and it was perfectly stated by Mr Clarke
Echols:

    "I don't like being given "permission" to do certain things,
    instead of telling the computer to do what *I* want *it* to do for
    *me*."

It surprises and depresses me how much people (even those that
proclaim to be free software - open source "proud" users) don't
realize that this is The Point.  And it is not related only to
software, hardware subjects.  It is about life.

It surprises and depresses me, for example, hearing this kind of
assertions:
   
   "I understand some folks are allergic to GPL..."

When, till I know, GPL was created principally with The Point stated
above.

Software history today is not tied to memory or cpu consumption or
processing times.  What about the fact that most people uses MS Word
or Indesign instead Groff or Latex?

Software history obey to the law of demand and supply.  Why do you
choose groff instead of Word?  The utopian day most people choose
software (and all other things) using authentic criterion (root causes
like The Point) instead of fetish like:

   "I consider myself to be one of those codgers and PROUD OF IT!"

even Microsoft, Apple, Adobe policies will be not so far of GPL.  Will
you think, like it happened to me in other mailing lists, that what
I've said is "off topic" or "vague" assumptions about software?