Hi Marc,
Marc Lavallée wrote:
Users of free software don't have to hack their own; installing a gratis Gnu/Linux distribution requires less energy than buying a close OS plus all required software, and installing them one by one, clicking OK buttons on EULA dialogs. Humans are lazy and opportunistic, and this should be good for free software and hardware.
I think that's only your point of view. Sometimes it's cheaper to go to a store and buy a $200 software than searching for a freeware version in internet for hours. That's my point of view - it just depends on the value of your time.
And by the way: going to a store gives the saleman a salary. So, in this example, freeware/OSS appears to be less social ;-)
However, what I wanted to show was that there is a very smeared border between hardware and software. And, it's very difficult to create a fair system of distributing hardware and software, or let's use a better differentiation, information and goods, as long as we have money. Anyhow, I'm very impatient for the time of Star Trek, where we'll don't need money anymore :-)
We could talk about it for years, and I'm sure we will. ;-)
Yes, we'll do, I'm sure about it. Because every month some OSS programers scream for that what they call "freedom". And forget, that what they really want is to restrict freedom of other individuals. So, why do _you_ want to force NVidia to do something your way? They are free to sell their driver - you are free to not buying their product if you don't like them.
Example: I don't like M$ and that's why I don't use MS Office. But, I need MS Windows as OS thus, I _buy_ MS Windows. Sorry for that, it's MS's and my freedom.
br,
Peter