CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Matt Lee <mattl> 12/01/11 13:40:09
Modified files:
philosophy : fs-motives.html
Log message:
Added Education motive, converted list to definition list
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/fs-motives.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.13&r2=1.14
Patches:
Index: fs-motives.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/fs-motives.html,v
retrieving revision 1.13
retrieving revision 1.14
diff -u -b -r1.13 -r1.14
--- fs-motives.html 20 Sep 2011 08:15:38 -0000 1.13
+++ fs-motives.html 11 Jan 2012 13:39:44 -0000 1.14
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+ <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
<title>Motives For Writing Free Software</title>
<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/fs-motives.translist" -->
@@ -8,68 +8,72 @@
These are some of the motives for writing free software.
</p>
-<ul>
-<li>
-<strong>Fun.</strong> For some people, often the best programmers,
+<dl>
+<dt>Fun.</dt>
+<dd>For some people, often the best programmers,
writing software is the greatest fun, especially when there is no boss
-to tell you what to do.
+to tell you what to do.<br />
+Nearly all free software developers share this motive.</dd>
-Nearly all free software developers share this motive.
-</li>
-
-<li>
-<strong>Political idealism.</strong> The desire to build a world of
+<dt>Political idealism.</dt>
+<dd>The desire to build a world of
freedom, and help computer users escape from the power of software
developers.
-</li>
+</dd>
-<li>
-<strong>To be admired.</strong> If you write a successful, useful
+<dt>To be admired.</dt>
+<dd>If you write a successful, useful
free program, the users will admire you. That feels very good.
-</li>
+</dd>
-<li>
-<strong>Professional reputation.</strong> If you write a successful,
+<dt>Professional reputation.</dt
+<dd>If you write a successful,
useful free program, that will suffice to show you are a good
programmer.
-</li>
+</dd>
-<li>
-<strong>Gratitude.</strong> If you have used the community's free
+<dt>Gratitude.</dt>
+<dd>If you have used the community's free
programs for years, and it has been important to your work, you feel
grateful and indebted to their developers. When you write a program
that could be useful to many people, that is your chance to pay it
forward.
-</li>
-
-<li>
-<strong>Hatred for Microsoft.</strong>
+</dd>
+<dt>Hatred for Microsoft.</dt>
+<dd>
It is a mistake to focus our
criticism <a href="/philosophy/microsoft.html">narrowly on
Microsoft</a>. Indeed, Microsoft is evil, since it makes non-free
software. Even worse, it implements
<a href="http://DefectiveByDesign.org";>Digital Restrictions Management</a>
-in that software. But many other companies do one or both of these.
+in that software. But many other companies do one or both of these.<br />
Nonetheless, it is a fact that many people utterly despise Microsoft,
and some contribute to free software based on that feeling.
-</li>
+</dd>
-<li>
-<strong>Money.</strong> A considerable number of people are paid to
+<dt>Money.</dt>
+<dd>A considerable number of people are paid to
develop free software or have built businesses around it.
-</li>
-
-<li>
-<strong>Wanting a better program to use.</strong>
+</dd>
-People often work on improvements in programs they use, in order to
+<dt>Wanting a better program to use.</dt>
+<dd>People often work on improvements in programs they use, in order to
make them more convenient. (Some commentators recognize no motive
other than this, but their picture of human nature is too narrow.)
-</li>
+</dd>
+
+<dt>Education</dt>
+
+<dd>If you write free software, it is often
+an opportunity to dramatically improve both your technical
+and social skills; if you are a teacher, encouraging your
+students to take part in an existing free software project or
+organizing them into a free software project may
+provide an excellent opportunity for them.</dd>
-</ul>
+</dl>
<p>Human nature is complex, and it is quite common for a person to
have multiple simultaneous motives for a single action.</p>
@@ -118,7 +122,7 @@
<p>
Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2011/09/20 08:15:38 $
+$Date: 2012/01/11 13:39:44 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
