Re: Icon designer wanted (Aquamacs Emacs)

[david . reitter]

> There is no market. Free developers don't produce
> commodities. They aren't looking for customers. They are
> freely working to create a free tool (which is always better
> than the tools which are commodities).

What good is a free tool if it isn't used?
How will people learn about the advantages of freedom, if not by
exercising it?
Isn't it naïve to think that many people will eventually use tools for
the spirit involved in their making, even though the tools are
inconvenient?
Let's strive for technically excellence through exercising our freedom!

Practically, something like the Aquamacs distribubtion and the vast
majority of software in general has started out of practical needs.
That's what Linus Torvalds says about Linux. Aquamacs has thousands of
"customers" who use it to do their jobs. They don't use it just because
it's cool to have free software installed. I personally hated the way X
deals with selection, the mouse, and copying&pasting. I hated the
non-working font settings in Emacs. I disliked the fact that the window
system isn't used to its potential. Practical needs.

Of course, there's the other view, and that's what the GNU people here
are putting forward. Developing software from an ideological starting
point. That's fine, too.

In the end, it's the combination of technical advantage and
intellectual basis that makes things attractive.