Software: Which do you value more: Freedom or convenience?

[youbuntu]

Hello folks! I know this may appear to be a daft question in here, but I wanted to ask a question:

(Q) Which do you value more - freedom or convenience?

I just watched the latest Apple event, and was blown away by the marvelous new features that they have built into iMovie '11 & iPhoto '11, but I can't help thinking... do we really *need* these "Hello, I'm Apple - let me do that for you" features in software, that take most of the skill out of doing things, especially when it is proprietary (and costs ££).

I value freedom, but then again, how am I supposed to listen to my MP3s and watch YouTube, without codecs and plugins that would have Richard Stallman foaming at the mouth?

Just a topic starter - I wanted to know what you good people think is more important, or if a good balance can be struck. Personally I have to use Flash player etc, because - let's face it - it works, and doesn't require me to spend a week setting it up.

[NightwishFan]

Freedom. Not everything has to be free, however if all of a sudden I was unable to use Ubuntu or Debian, I would be using Haiku, not OSX or Windows. I would stick with it until it was good enough for every thing I do.

[Pogeymanz]

Freedom is usually more important for me. There have been a few times that I sacrificed freedom for convenience.

Mathematica is so much easier to use than Maxima or Sage

[Dustin2128]

Freedom. Not everything has to be free, however if all of a sudden I was unable to use Ubuntu or Debian, I would be using Haiku, not OSX or Windows. I would stick with it until it was good enough for every thing I do.
same. But why wouldn't you swap to something more developed like BSD or slackware? Also, this is the perfect thread for a poll...

[cariboo]

I prefer convenience over freedom, right now a Linux variant is way more convenient, than any of the other OSs available.

[Dustin2128]

I value freedom, but then again, how am I supposed to listen to my MP3s and watch YouTube, without codecs and plugins that would have Richard Stallman foaming at the mouth?
swap your library to ogg or some other open format, use gnash for youtube. A rabid Stallman is not something you want to have chasing after you, trust me.

[NightwishFan]

I like Haiku better. :)

I am not one of those guys who feel strongly about freedom. I have the leisure of computers being my hobby. My hobby does not include being locked down. It just happens I get convenience and freedom as Cariboo said.

[aysiu]

This is a false dichotomy. I value both. If I have to make a choice between something non-functionally free and something functionally restricted, I'll take functionally restricted any day, though, because who cares what the license is if what you're using doesn't even work?

[Dustin2128]

I like Haiku better. :)

I am not one of those guys who feel strongly about freedom. I have the leisure of computers being my hobby. My hobby does not include being locked down. It just happens I get convenience and freedom as Cariboo said.
off topic, how's haiku's hardware support now? I tried it out in a virtual machine and it looked pretty awesome, wondering if its worth some space as a dual boot partition on my desktop.

[red_Marvin]

I want to say freedom, I really do, but the question is impossible to answer.
The main reason is that they are neither binary (black and white) choices or
neccesarily mutually exclusive.

Comparisions could be made so that you would have to give up a lot
of freedom to gain little convenience or the other way around.
So depending on how the more specific question is asked, you might
end up on either side of the fence.

Somebody might then point out that that would not be a fair
comparision then, but that brings us to the question, by what metric
would one measure freedom and convenience, in order to ensure fairness?
Please excuse my quarter-to-four-in-the-night ramblings...

[Ctrl-Alt-F1]

I choose convenience when it comes to large issues, but if there are no large convenience issues then I choose freedom over minor convenience issues.

[NightwishFan]

Not perfect however just about everything on my laptop works out of the box. It has a fast vesa driver too. Try out the live cd/live usb. :)

[dtfinch]

Roadblocks caused by insufficient freedom can be very inconvenient.

[leeper69]

I choose freedom the freedom to make my own decisions after trying as many avenues as I can.

[Guitar John]

Of course, I chose freedom, but I value both. In regards to computers, convenience as you defined it,

"zero tweaking/binary only solutions"

is something I have never experienced with free or proprietary software.

[sidzen]

@ red_Marvin

What does fairness have to do with the question?
To ask such drops us into the realm of politics. And this is against the rules.
I won't go there.

[red_Marvin]

@ sidzen
I meant that for a comparision to be at all useful, it has to be fair in that there is a sense of proportion between what is compared, at least they have to have some common axist to be measured on for the comparision to be made.

[handy]

I couldn't vote in the poll.

I needed a "Freedom first - happily accepting some inconvenience; but will also pay for good Linux software when essential/available" option.

[sidzen]

glossywhite asked "(Q) Which do you value more - freedom or convenience?"

KISS precludes such wishy-washy answers as the last two, #17 & #18! Such is expected from politicians. Hence, my original statement in #16 regarding such.