Being a Free/Open Source Software Catalyst : Part I

“Catalyst: [1] A substance used in a chemical reaction that is
part of a chain of events that result in the change, but are
ultimately not consumed in the reaction itself.

“Being a Free/Open Source Software Catalyst

“Years of participation in the FOSS community have brought me
into contact with a lot of dissatisfaction and discontent. A lot of
organizations have indeed embraced FOSS — but a larger landscape
of proprietary software remains. This will be an article series for
those of you in the trenches on the FOSS side of this battle. It
will focus upon multiple aspects of the persuasion experience.

“If there’s a common theme among the discontent it’s this: A lot
of proprietary software is horribly bad in quality. Complicating
matters is the fact that there is a perception (real or imagined)
that there is nothing to be done about it. That you’re powerless.
That the choices have been made and that things are simply going to
be this way forever (or for 5 years — essentially the same time
frame). That you’re doomed to a life with no FOSS joy.”

Complete
Story