[hackerspaces] Hackerspaces survey on Free/Libre Open Source Software

[Ron Bean]

Mike Dupont <jamesmikedupont at googlemail.com> writes:

>acceptance of using illegal copies of proprietary software instead of
>learning to use F/LOSS alternatives.

This does bother me, especially at a larger 'space.
 
>spending of hackerspace funds on software licenses.

I could see this as acceptable where it's significantly better than any
open-source alternative. 
 
Also, a lot of people who are there to hack atoms rather than bits don't
want to take the time to learn something other than the proprietary
software they're used to, because they're not software guys (hence the
prevalence of Windows).

Another thing that comes up is that sometimes people (including me)
check out an open-source program, see that it doesn't do what they need
to do, and then don't notice when useful features are added later. I
know a guy who hates Linux because he had a bad experience with it 10
years ago, and still insists that it's terrible.                      
 
>for me the big one that hurt the most : was removing of linux from the
>public terminals and replacing with windows.

They don't even let you have one linux machine?

Most people just use their own laptops, though, so it's not usually a
big issue.