Subject: Re: [lojban] New to lojban, any suggestions?

From: "Robert J. Chassell" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 21:25:29 +0000 (UTC)

The analogy fails precisely because an MS program isn't like a pencil...

I was not comparing an MS program to a pencil.... I was comparing a
pencil to software to which I have ownership-type legal rights.

Yes, if you want to do all those things, then don't buy MS
programs. 

Yes, you are right.

... A tiny group ... not being willing to do what would make that system
available ...

Right. You are criticizing IBM for spending a billion dollars this
year on stuff related software that gives you freedom, and yet IBM is
not offering you what you want. I would not or could not purchase
what IBM is offering, either. (I cannot afford, and do not really
want, a multimillion dollar S390 mainframe running free software.)

Look to other vendors. Different vendors offer different products.

... for whatever blind reason, refuse to change from MS.

In my experience, people usually do not want to change because of the
transition costs. They do not want to spend the costly time
relearning. (This is why otherwise boring issues like `international,
public standards' become significant topics. If your software uses an
international, public standard, it will be easy and cheap for you to
change; if not, you pay a great deal to change. If you do not find it
easier to change your software vendor than your grocer, you lack
freedom in a practical sense.)

... pooh-poohing anything that has worked for years longer than
their system has been in existence ...

I don't understand you. I am writing this on software that was first
written 27 years ago. This is before Bill Gates started his company.
(The software has improved over the years; indeed, I sent in another
suggestion this morning. The author and the current maintainer
welcome suggestions.)

... It is especially bad for Lojban, since our growth is almost
entirely computer based and alienating 90% of that base is not a
good strategy for growth.

I am confused by what you are saying.

As you say, some people use MS, some don't. 

Right. But my impression as a lurker is that several of the current
major lojban software contributors prefer their own freedom.

There is a conflict going on over whether it is better for a society
to use governmental coercion to preserve private corporations'
monopoly or quasi-monopolistic power in this particular industry or
whether a society should favor freedom in this industry. The conflict
is inescapable (although I can assure you, most people I know want to
escape it).

(My apologies. Nowadays, I am a lurker on this list. Currently, I
lack the time to study the most recent lojban as I have studied the
various Loglans as I have in the past -- but I have been studying one
or other Loglan on and off since the 1962 Scientific American article,
so I expect to come back some time or other.)

You may want to focus on Lojban as I do; but the problem with coercive
actions is that you have no choice. This current imbroglio is what
the confict between non-freedom and freedom involves.

-- 
Robert J. Chassell [email-masked]
Rattlesnake Enterprises http://www.rattlesnake.com