Political Leaning And Free Software

[pankkake]

Posted by kdawson on 11-03-07 1:32

from the free-as-in-markets dept.

00_NOP writes "HateMyTory is the world's first political rating site and occasionally gets blasted or promoted by British bloggers on either side of the political spectrum. But here's something even more intriguing: when the right come visiting they hate the site but they are disproportionately likely to be users of free software, whether that is just Firefox on top of their Windows box, or all the way with some Linux distro. But when the left rally to the cause they are more likely than not to be proprietary software users, albeit with a big bias towards Apple. If Microsoft's defenders think free software is the road to socialism, why don't the left seem to agree? As a leftie, and a free software advocate, I find this pretty puzzling."

http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/10/1953258

Your "right" leaning folks are probably more independent/market minded. I.E. if free software does the job then why would I pay for something that may not be as good?

Your "left" leaning folks will probably (IMO) be more willing to follow the "alternative crowd" I.E. Apple. To my line of thought, many on the "left" are just as intolerable of individuality as those on the "right". The difference being one

side wants power in the hands of corporations and the government while the other just wants government to have the power.

As a libertarian who is often confused as a right-winger, I've been a Mozilla/Firefox user for 5 years and a Linux user for 3 years now. Maybe it has something to do with "rightys" and libertarians prefering less restrictions in every day life and this carrying over into the software realm.

Linux/OSS users represent a sense personal and social accountability.

Apple users represent a desire for change and improvement but expect to get that by switching to a popular alternative.

Windows users represent people who just use their computers and don't think about anything else around them. These are the same people who get pissed off when news of a new terrorist threat or attack is on TV… not because they feel a connection with the rest of the world, but because it interrupted their favorite sitcom.

Windows does not represent a choice, but rather, the lack of one.

Makes sense to me.

Open Source advocates are people who understand that OSS is a functional adaptation of the software marketplace to concentrated market control. For those interested in advocating free markets (in which competition is better for everyone than monopolization), using OSS to break abusive monopolies is a good deal.

So, to clarify, OSS advocates are actually free-market libertarians; Microsoft and Apple apologists are actually the commie fascists. I realize that's the opposite of the convention, but think about it.

I was going to write a post about the political leanings of operating systems, but stopped myself just in time. Because it's stupid.

Stop obsessing with what other people are doing. Stop obsessing with who they vote for, what football team they rally behind, and what desktop they use. It's no one's business but their own what brand of automobile they drive.

So what if I don't use the same software license as you? What business could it possibly be of yours?

[Yozz]

Ce qui est troublant, c'est que c'est pourtant les partis de gauche qui tentent de surfer sur la vague open source (tout en ignorant manifestement ce dont il s'agit).

Pour le reste, je souscris totalement, et je décèle plus de crypto-libertariens chez les férus du libre que de crypto-communistes. Même s'il y en a.

[Rincevent]

Ce qui est troublant, c'est que c'est pourtant les partis de gauche qui tentent de surfer sur la vague open source (tout en ignorant manifestement ce dont il s'agit).

Pour le reste, je souscris totalement, et je décèle plus de crypto-libertariens chez les férus du libre que de crypto-communistes. Même s'il y en a.

Reste à les convertir. Encore que certains pourraient se montrer réticents. Par exemple, tu connais le Hub du Libre ?

[A.B.]

J'en profite pour dire qu'il est curieux que la GPL repose sur le fait d'accepter la validité de la propriété intelectuelle. Sans IP, pas de GPL, que du MIT/BSD.

[melodius]

J'en profite pour dire qu'il est curieux que la GPL repose sur le fait d'accepter la validité de la propriété intelectuelle. Sans IP, pas de GPL, que du MIT/BSD.

De fait. C'est de l'aikido la GPL !