Monday, June 04, 2007

For My Faithful Readers

Michael Meeks:

During my gap year I became a Christian, and at that point I realised my computer was riddled with non-free software, most of it stolen. So we had a big fight about this, me and God, and the voice of conscience was quite clear that this was not what should go on. So eventually, I ditched it to run Linux instead, which at the time was not good news. The hardware support, and anything graphical or visual, was just hopeless.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

You'll laugh, but this actually did happen to me. When I became a Christian I realized that I had loads of software I had downloaded illegally. This is when Kazaa/Bearshare/Morpheus were in their prime and it was easier to do.

I ended up purging thousands of mp3's, uninstalling lots of programs, and purchasing over $500 worth of proprietary software (didn't know much about free software then) to replace it.

Ahh, the cost of obedience. It was worth it though.

Gnuosphere said...

I knew I had read that somewhere before. It was bugging me and I had to find out where. So I searched and finally came up with it...

GNU/Linux User & Developer magazine issue 69, page 51.

Speaking of (w)hol(l)y free code, there's an interesting interview by Rachel Probert with IGNUcius, saint of the Church of Emacs on page 32..

That's one religious rag...or at least that particular issue.

BCrowe said...

I know exactly how you feel. I, myself, became a Christian about 5 years ago and faced similar struggles. Just recently have I moved to Linux, but, same as Chris, I purged my MP3 collection and probably about $5k of software...luckily, most can be replaced and are only and apt-get away! :)
Good for you!!!

Tom Hoffman said...

Jim,
"Thou shalt not steal."
I don't think it is as much a free vs. non-free thing, but a "given that I don't have money to pay for Photoshop, should I steal it or use the Gimp?" thing.

Gnuosphere said...

Chris you say, "Ahh, the cost of obedience. It was worth it though."

Obedience to organized religion's rules or corporate propaganda (i.e. "piracy", "stealing")? Or both?

Gnuosphere said...

When I heard about free software I began my quest. And finally I became a saint too.

I had it out with Saint IGNUcius about his dogmatic stance on gods in the Church of Emacs (he says we have no gods). I argued that He be made our new god but IGNUcius is reluctant. Hopefully one day IGNUcius will be touched by his noodly appendage and the Church of Emacs will undergo a transformation.

Just between us, I think IGNUcius' halo is a bit tight around the noggin...if you get my drift.

Tom Hoffman said...

I knew Peter would have to chime in on this one eventually...