Stallman: Can we rescue OLPC from Windows?

Your comment would be more appropriate if this were, say, Steve Jobs arguing for OS X to
replace Windows.  There the two agendas would be roughly equivalent:  Building a larger user
base to cement their respective proprietary OSes in the marketplace.  More users == more
network effects == more lock-in.  Like any good pusher, they'll make sure your first hit's
free in the hopes of a paying customer for life.

RMS certainly has an agenda, but it's rather different in character.  He too wants to expand a
user base, with its attendant network effects and resulting self reinforcement.  The
difference?  Rather than leading large numbers of people toward lock-in and a future
dependence on software and features dictated by the whims of a few companies, he'd rather lead
people toward an independent future, where the software and platform are controlled and
evolved by the very people who use it.

The more people who embrace free software, the easier it gets.  Remember when the web was
dominated by websites that only functioned properly on Internet Explorer?  Since the rise of
the next wave of alternate browsers such as Mozilla and Firefox, I haven't seen such a site in
a while.  This wouldn't have happened unless there were enough people demanding it.