> > There are also quite a few free programs that run only on Windows. > > (Being able to redistribute a program and its source and modify and > > redistribute the source doesn't somehow cause it to be instantly > > ported to other platforms by the grace of God.) These programs can be > > run on other operating systems with Wine. They can be ported to run on > > other operating systems with winelib. > > I didn't say Wine is evil, just counter-productive. And it's totally my > own opinion. Its fortunate success, as Free Software, may have enabled > some users to use more Free Software, but it may also have enabled some > users to continue using non-free software, even when replacements exist. >
Wine isn't counter-productive if it allows me to run a certain nameless browser on the OS I choose to use as my desktop. Why do I use this browser instead of an alternative? Simply because I have a business _need_ to access a website that does _not_ run on the alternative browsers. When I am not accessing this website, I do indeed use the alternative browsers. If it weren't for wine, I would be forced to use windows simply because I need to access _one_ website that doesn't run in anything other than the nameless browser. Sometimes, just because a free alternative exists to a non-free (or non-open source) application, doesn't mean that it can completely replace said non-free application.
