So today, there were problems with accessing email on the FAS network. I tried Mozilla Thunderbird, mutt, and pine, but none of these client provided optimal results. My regressive friend (who uses Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook, and Trillian - all non-open source software) decided to be difficult and asked if I used open-sourced medicine instead of patented medicine.
For the record, I am not dogmatic about open source. At the same time, I feel like I am tired of dropping quotes from drunkenbatman's posts that explain why open source is important. One last time:
In the end, the only things I'm aware of that have the user's interest at heart are:
- Open protocols
- Open formats
- Open source
Across the board, users always win when things are open. One of the reasons why the underdog in any competition in the tech world pushes for openness and the um... overdog... pushes to up the inconvenience factor is that it creates openness creates options. If the underdog competes well enough, you might actually go with them -- provided it's not to much of a hassle or inconvenience to do so.