My kid hates Linux (ZDNet)

"Also, I just don't buy that there's no "partial ordering on freeness." Encouraging the use of
non-free software can lead to more non-free software and less free software, which is the real
danger."

The situation with not allowing ANY proprietary software is that people who are currently
using 
Windows or OS X will not switch to Linux, since they would consider it a step back in term of 
features and performance. What you (and many others) are advocating is in fact making sure
that 
millions of people keep on using their proprietary OS'es, when they could be using a free OS 
instead.

No, don't get me wrong: given the choice, I would much rather have a system that is 100% free 
software. But if I'm NOT given that choice, I would much rather have as much free software as 
possible, while still having an usable system. If I need to use proprietary drivers in order
to get 
WiFi (for example) going, what should I do? Use those drivers, or don't use WiFi? What if I
was a 
new user wanting to try out Linux? Yeah, good luck trying to turn me in to a Linux-user by 
saying things like "well, in Linux, you couldn't use your WiFi....". At that point I would
turn around 
and walk right back to Windows/Mac.

I'm not "encouraging the use of non-free software". I'm saying that if there is no free,
functional 
alternative, and the user needs that feature, then he should just use the proprietary drivers.

"I have encountered bugs in both
the vendor's software and the GNU software. I was able to fix the GNU programs with only a few
hours work, notify the maintainer, and move on with my job."

Since I'm not a coder, that particular benefit is meaningless to me. And it would be
meaningless 
to most of the people who would migrate from Windows or Mac. Why does everyone always 
assume that anyone running Linux is a coder? Telling users that "But you can fix and change
the 
code yourself!" only makes sense if the user has the skills and knowledge to do so. Most do
not.

If we ran only 100% free software, we would not have decent 3D-acceleration. We would 
probably not have WiFi. We would not have Flash. And those are just from the top of my head. 
And that would mean that for normal users, Linux-computer is nothing but a glorified "email & 
web"-machine. And even the "web"-part would be debatable, since so many websites use flash. 
Good luck trying to sell that kind of system to new users. They would just ask "why should I
run 
Linux for those tasks, since I could do them in Windows just as well?". And on this age of 
wireless-connectivity, they could do that wirelessly on WIndows, while being stuck to ethernet
on 
Linux.

If the goal is to make people use free software, how exactly does it help if we insist on
running 
crippled systems that give the impression that Linux is not good? How does it help if our
actions 
and comments are in fact making sure that millions of people prefer using Windows or Mac? We 
are pushing users to proprietary software, while we are talking about trying to get people use

free software. It just makes no sense.

P.S: Apologies for the spacing of my text. Safari does not like LWN it seems. Yes, I posted
this 
using a Mac, and there are reasons for that.