Why would you leave?

[No']

The "top trumps" shows how and why we got into FLOSS in general, and what do we think is interesting in the Free Software movement.

But as Chrisp announced he'd switch from Free^H^H^H^HOpenBSD to NetBSD because of the de Raadt / RMS recent troll, I was wondering: "why would you switch from your favorite distro to another one?" or "Why would you stop using free software?" (more generally speaking).

What could happen that would piss you off so much that you would break you commitment with FLOSS? Which kind of disaster would make you leave?

[R.Smith]

...But as Chrisp announced he'd switch from FreeBSD to NetBSD...

I'm not wanting to be pedantic but shouldn't that be OpenBSD?

[No']

You're right. You _are_ pedantic . But you are right on both. It is OpenBSD. Thanks.

[garwaymatt]

I think I would leave if linux (in particular as that is what I use) turned into a proprietary quagmire of shit, as I think the main reason linux has become more sucessful is that it is seen as the 'free software' operating system, the freedom aspect basically makes it what it is. It is very important.

I don't think I would leave to go to a proprietary system, as I suppose in effect I have 'Seen the light', in that the Floss model is the right way that it should be done.

I would look at alternatives if the innovation significantly slowed, there is loads of cool software that is useful,(or not as the case may be.) The technology is moving incredibly fast, look at a linux distribution from 2001 when windows XP was released and compare it to say, Ubuntu Gutsy, the change has been much greater than XP>Vista. Even listening to early LR episodes, the amazement at project utopia, having things such as flash drives just mount when you plug them in, and that was in 2004.

I think the level of innovation is probably about equal between free/proprietary systems at the moment, and I hope that it will pass them in the next couple of years.

The final thing is that if linux became a bitch to use again, I may look for alternatives, lack of usability is something that really annoys me. I find myself almost angry at bad designs, such as my kettle for example, the hande is postioned so that as you pour the water, your hand is tipped into the rising scalding steam. Vista is , from my fairly limited use of it, a mess.

I know that this may be linux in particular, instead of all FOSS, but that is what I currently use. I do not think I would give up on Free Software, as I went into with the first section.

[Allix]

I find myself almost angry at bad designs, such as my kettle for example, the hande is postioned so that as you pour the water, your hand is tipped into the rising scalding steam.

I presume you have something like
Maybe you should get something like where your hand is away from the steam.

[garwaymatt]

I don't choose the domestic appliances in the house, apparently it looked nice and fitted in with the kitchen.

[nickg]

I don't choose the domestic appliances in the house, apparently it looked nice and fitted in with the kitchen.

I'm glad it's not just my family who buy rubbish products that "look nice"

[Rugmonster]

I have left several projects behind for alternatives. I got into Gentoo prior to it's 1.0 release and helped with the testing a good deal, but as the quality of the ebuilds declined following the 1.0 release and my time was spent looking for fixes to get my system working and that whole community fell to shit, I moved back to Debian. I am a tinkerer, but if I spend more of my time making my system work than using it, I have to move on to better things. Another example was when I left Slackware for Debian for the same reason (come on, get a real package manager). I also went from using Linux on the desktop to Windows for a while, but went back when SUSE 10.0 provided a good desktop experience. SUSE later had a downslide and Ubuntu was starting to come into its own and made for a really nice desktop experience, so I moved and have been there ever since. If Ubuntu were to suddenly start sucking, I would have to look elsewhere.

I doubt very seriously I would ever leave free software altogether. I know if I were to go back to the non-free world, I would pirate the software I used like I did prior to coming to free software. I've grown up since then and have a little stronger moral compass. If the state of free software as a whole started sucking to the point where I felt like giving it up, I think I would have to hike up my breeches and exercise my weak programming muscle to make things better. That is the real beauty of free software. If you think something sucks, you can fork it and make it work. If your fork is better, then others will follow and help.

[whiterocker]

A massive overhaul of the copyright regime.

The main problem with proprietary software is the lack of freedom to fix and interoperate due to copyright, which lasts for something like the life of the author plus 50 years, or some equally objectionable term depending where in the world you live. IIRC, an incident related to this was RMS' motivation to start the FSF and the GNU project in the first place.

It is conceivable that copyright could be dramatically changed to alter the situation. I won't speculate on how it could happen, but if we ended up with a legal regime where software was automatically public domained after a relatively short term, like say 2 years after initial publication, then to me free software, as a distinct approach, would be at lot less necessary.

[QuantumG]

A couple of the large lads were suggesting that their biggest annoyance that would cause them to leave the community is people "forcing their opinion down other persons' throat" etc. I got the feeling as I was listening that maybe they were talking about me After all, I've expressed some of my opinions in a way that many would consider "bullying" - and sometimes that's even kind of intentional. The problem is that many people, including our lovable presenters are just too willing to accept that "I'm ok, you're ok" and refuse to enter into a debate on certain topics... and yet they still want to say what they think is right and wrong with the world.

[Aq]

many people, including our lovable presenters are just too willing to accept that "I'm ok, you're ok" and refuse to enter into a debate on certain topics... and yet they still want to say what they think is right and wrong with the world.

Which debates am I not participating in?

[haakin]

Winning the Euromillions lottery.

I'm sure that 20 or more millions of euros would change my point of view in a lot of things, like taxes and free/Free things.

[neuro]

If I won the EuroMillions, I'd be even more committed to the FOSS community. Hey, I can sponsor bounties, sponsor development, buy hardware, host events, sponsor events, etc.

[R.Smith]

I doubt anything will make me move away from FOSS software as I strongly believe that it's how software should be developed. However, there is something that'll most likely make me move away from GNU/Linux, and that's Haiku. I've been keeping an eye on its development for several years now and its tiny size without compromise to features intrigues and strongly appeals to me.

[oojah]

If I won the EuroMillions, I'd be even more committed to the FOSS community. Hey, I can sponsor bounties, sponsor development, buy hardware, host events, sponsor events, etc.

Damn right. That's certainly what I'd be doing. oojah-ix here we come

Cheers,

Roger