'Bout time we had one for the Cajuns amongst you.
Insofar as there is any philosophical underpinning behind FOSS, this is it. It’s clearly not Marxism. It’s clearly not Ayn Rand. It’s basically a mock-up of the ideals of the eighteenth century.
This would explain abortionate naming like “LibreOffice,” which clearly makes no sense, because if you are sitting in an office using “productivity” software, you are very much not “free.” So much for
Liberté.
It would explain the fifty-seven distros with nothing on. That’s Egalité for you. It’s really, really important to set the barriers for entry so low that even the most clod-hopping clown downstream can distribute an “operating system.”
It doesn’t really deal with the most difficult of the three, however. Fraternité? That actually involves understanding other people and supporting them; not just pointless bitching on Ubuntu forums and the like.
Comments
Fraternité is not that hard. Collective hatred towards counter-revolutioneers is probably the best example of “brotherhood” among that lot.
And that’s why it’s so hard … A fine historical comment, if I may say so. The Loons have proven that you can attach “freedom” to anything, and nobody will blink an eyelid. “Equality” is a bit tougher, but you can always fudge it with (in political terms) “of opportunity” or (in Loon terms) “by destroying monopolies and patents.”
Fraternity … now, that’s hard. For precisely the reason I say. And I didn’t come up with the argument first: Nick Cohen of the Observer did.
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