Editing Principled positions and FLOSS
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And if we are taking principled positions, it is in the long-term interests of both our cause and our credibility to frame our arguments and our advocacy in those terms. We can use empirical evidence to help bolster our arguments but we should be careful to not confuse these empirical claims with the principles themselves. They can, and sometimes will, be proven wrong. | And if we are taking principled positions, it is in the long-term interests of both our cause and our credibility to frame our arguments and our advocacy in those terms. We can use empirical evidence to help bolster our arguments but we should be careful to not confuse these empirical claims with the principles themselves. They can, and sometimes will, be proven wrong. | ||
By honestly highlighting our principles and not shying away from explicit Utopianism, we can return to questions of efficiency as ''means'' toward achieving our principled ends. Approached | By honestly highlighting our principles and not shying away from explicit Utopianism, we can return to questions of efficiency as ''means'' toward achieving our principled ends. Approached this angle, we need not seek to explain why FLOSS is better than proprietary software --- which it may or may not be at any given point in time and for any given project --- and can instead ask how we can make it better. | ||
Humans are creative, innovative problem solvers. We set goals and devise social structures and technologies to achieve them. The fact that we | Humans are creative, innovative problem solvers. We set goals and devise social structures and technologies to achieve them. The fact that we | ||
have created socio-technical means of creating better software through free ways in so many areas is a reflection of this ingenuity applied toward principles at the heart of FLOSS. We would be well served to remember that this is ''how'' FLOSS will win, not ''why''. | have created socio-technical means of creating better software through free ways in so many areas is a reflection of this ingenuity applied toward principles at the heart of FLOSS. We would be well served to remember that this is ''how'' FLOSS will win, not ''why''. |