npsimons's Journal: "Free Software doesn't have end users"

So, I was going through the links on BBSpot today, and I found what I can only describe as one of the most lucid, well-written articles on Free culture I've seen in a long time: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain this to you. It's so fan-fucking-tastically good that I'm severely tempted to make my new signature on slashdot a link to that article with the title "Free Software doesn't have end users".

Every time I see some whiny bastard say "but Linux will never take over the desktop! you have to pay attention to MEEEE -*- cough -*- I mean, you have to pay attention to the end users!" I just want to bitchslap the little schmuck. What have these so-called "end users" done for Linux? Fuck them! The end users of Linux and Free Software have always been the same people who created it: the developers. If you "just want it to work", and you can't even be arsed to file a bug report, fuck you. It works for us; you should be grateful we decided to share the source with you.

Ranting aside, this really cuts to the heart of why I use Free Software: even if it wasn't technologically superior (which it is, precisely because it is Free Software), I would still use it because it is the only software I can modify and use however I want without having to say the equivalent of "please sir, may I have another?" to some big corp. whose only concern is next quarter's earnings.

Free Software doesn't have end users; that's kind of the point. You can either participate and contribute a little something back or you can pay some company to tell you what you are not allowed to do. We welcome your input, but if all you can do is say "your software sucks! do what I say or I'll use someone else's software!" then all I can say is farewell and peace be to you.

There, fixed that for you : - )

[unitron]

"I would still use it because it is the only software I can modify and use however I want without..."

...being told that maybe if I spend a lot of money on the next release and the newer hardware to run it my particular gripe may have been fixed (but a bunch of other stuff will have been hosed at least until the next version after that).

Interesting way of viewing the situation and interesting link. I just plugged your journal entry in a question I posed to Mark over there.

Re:

[npsimons]

"I would still use it because it is the only software I can modify and use however I want without..." ...being told that maybe if I spend a lot of money on the next release and the newer hardware to run it my particular gripe may have been fixed (but a bunch of other stuff will have been hosed at least until the next version after that).

Interesting way of viewing the situation and interesting link. I just plugged your journal entry in a question I posed to Mark over there.

Your re-wording is a bit more polit

Re:

[unitron]

Nothing wrong with your phrasing, I was just using your vent to let off some of my steam, although I wasn't sure if your allusion was to "Oliver Twist" asking for more of what was being passed off as soup or that whole weird sadomasochistic military/private school caning/whipping/beating corporal punishment fetish/bravado thing. Either way, it's irksome to have to deal with corporations who think we exist to serve them (by buying whatever dreck they churn out) instead of the other way around, and Microsoft