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The religious fervor has definitely faded, yet we're in the largest open source software renaissance of all time. The reason is probably because OSS has "won". Not in the absolute sense that all software is open, but in the sense that businesses have fully realized the impact Eric Raymond prophesied in the late 90s. That's why I think you're right. Without a growing movement of FOSS developers committed to making both software AND hardware, there won't be the necessary alternatives that regular people need to satisfy their underlying desire for the conveniences they're used to. Each of these services would have to be dropped or replaced for you to consider yourself a full Stallmanite: - Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat
- Gmail, Outlook
- Google Calendar
- Google Maps, Mapquest, Bing maps
- Mac computers, any non-Gnu laptop or desktop
- Dropbox, iCloud, Skydrive, G-Drive
- Google search
- iPhones, Android phones
That's just some, and even I use Gmail because I can't find a valid alternative! That list is daunting and you're leaking privacy if you use even one of them. This is why the problem is so difficult: because you have to convince someone to stop using Facebook when you can't provide even a moderately valid alternative. Until there exists a compelling alternative to these services and devices, you have to rely on the general population developing that religious fervor.So what do you do, build compelling alternatives? Or do you try to incite the masses on the dangers of privacy loss? It doesn't seem like option #2 has been working very well, but it actually does start to feel like #1 is developing. I'm starting to see more attempts at FOSS hardware on things like Indiegogo/Kickstarter. Maybe the secret isn't to replace each service, but to allow users to continuing using them more anonymously. |
This is kind of problematic and exactly why rms insists that we call it "free software" instead of "open source". The big goal shouldn't be to be a better business, but a better ethic.