mintCast 234 – Linux Evangelism

6 Replies to “mintCast 234 – Linux Evangelism”

1. 

   Recruiter

   October 23, 2015 at 6:52 AM

   Reply

   Why do I try to recruit others to use Linux? Entirely selfish reasons. If my desktop gets more users, it will get more developers and notice. The experience I have every day will get better if I can only recruit another 1% of the population.

2. 

   Mister Sterling

   October 23, 2015 at 10:00 AM

   Reply

   No link to Ken’s IndieGoGo campain? I’d like to help him get a van or truck to do his business.

   • 

     Scott

     October 23, 2015 at 2:53 PM

     Reply

     That’s on me (Scott). Sorry – here is the link:

     https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/delivering-technology-to-those-that-need-it-most#/

3. 

   Lieven Hanssen

   October 23, 2015 at 2:38 PM

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   Dear Rob and Scott of the GNU/Mint podcast, what an excellent show. Listening to this episode is an marvellous way to get introduced to the entire discussion around FLOSS, Free And Open Source Software as some people now call it, before you get stuck in the hornets nest of the different versions of the GNU GPL, BSD, Apache, Public Domain and MIT licenses.
   I agree that to promote the advantages of FLOSS and Linux distributions (I prefer this term, because I don’t like the religious connotation when you’d use evangelize) it’s better not to disparage other operating systems, because nobody likes a hater and according to Leonardo diCaprio in Inception positive emotions always trump negative emotions. You wouldn’t even have to compare Linux to those-who-shall-not-be-named because it can excite and entice on its own merits, not by being better that others, but by just being a good operating system.
   Whilst I don’t agree with the Free Software Foundation that software is inherently free, because I do not fully understand what the quality is of software which makes it inherently free, I do agree that society benefits immensely when it is. And I even agree that in certain cases it should be mandatory to be FLOSS, one example was mentioned by Scott, namely the machines that count votes in an election. If all political parties can’t check the source code for any funny business, then it would be impossible to ever declare an honest victor in an election. I enjoyed the show, because I’m really interested in the topic, it’s one of the aspects of Linux, that drew me to it and I can’t get enough of shows like these.

4. 

   Georgefromtulsa

   October 25, 2015 at 10:39 PM

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   Self-interest is an important reason to advocate for Linux. A decade ago I fled Windows for Mac and its superior resistance to malware. Back then there was a shortfall of Mac software equivalents for Windows, so much that the great Mac site MacInTouch.com ran a regular feature, “Mac Marginalization.”

   That’s no longer true. And partly because of the many friends, family, and organizations I recruited, encouraged, and even subsidized to move to Mac.

   Now I’ve moved on to Linux. Fortunately, I’ve found no shortage of productivity tools to replace the ones I used on Mac, though we’re still running PhotoShop, Acrobat Pro, and Adobe Illustrator on a Mac at work. Maybe Linux substitutes could produce the same results, but there’s the learning curve our graphic artist would have to climb. Plus the Mac and its installed software are paid for, and not with Adobe’s expensive subscription model.

   True, Linux developers (for the most part) aren’t trying to develop commercial software, even so I’d bet I’d bet more Linux users would result in more and better applications. Chicken and egg? Perhaps even draw in some commercial application developers to fill in gaps, games, and some of those very specific programs that remain available on Windows and Mac, but are only approximated on Linux, if available at all.

   Apple with Yosemite 10.10 turned OS X into a kind of spyware reporting even local searches (by default) to Apple and then from Apple to Bing. The OS X program Little Snitch reports an amazing amount of Apple telemetry to and from local Macs. Windows 10 is even worse, or so I understand.

   I’m telling friends and family that I feel more private, more secure, on Linux. I’m not having to buy updates of a score of OS X Applications that aren’t compatible with Apple’s latest El Capitan. El Capitan has broken a lot of stuff, and I don’t care! My new Linux computers are fast, and our desktop i7 NUCs are far more advanced and half the price of the nearest equivalent Mac Minis.

5. 

   Will

   November 13, 2015 at 4:51 PM

   Reply

   As mainly an Arch user, the only part of your discussion I was offended by was Scott’s dig at the end about how much hate you would get from Arch users. I use Arch because I enjoy seeing new updates and I don’t mind dealing with the occasional bug. I also find it the easiest to install new/obscure programs on. I would never recommend it to anyone else though unless I felt that person was fully aware of what running it entailed.

   You brought a lot of the relevant issues regarding open source advocacy. I am much further along the Scott and FSF end of the spectrum than the practical end that Rob is on. I don’t think software has morality but the benefits of open source are so great that I really think it should be mandated in many instances.

   By the way, even Stallman and FSF say that “Linux” is an acceptable shorthand for “GNU/Linux”. It’s when you are stating the kind of Linux in some official capacity that they care. And saying “GNU/Linux” does more than just feed the GNU developers’ egos. It serves to distinguish the traditional desktop version of Linux from other versions like Android/Linux, ChromeOS/Linux, Tizen/Linux, etc., all of which seem to get away without using Linux in their shorthand name. The GNU people probably should have given GNU/Linux a catchier name.