Sinabro: Blog

00:58 Saturday, Jul. 26, 2008

I think I finally crossed an important threshold.

I can now finally firmly say "No" to people who ask for help with some proprietary software, such as Matlab, Mathematica, or any of the Adobe products.

I can now feign complete lack of knowledge of these products (which is at least half-true—it's been so long since I've used any of those, that I'd have to do some research to "remember" it) and instead offer a free alternative (GNU Octave, Python + Numpy + Scipy, Maxima, Scribus, ... ).

I can now prevent myself from empathizing with those who put themselves through hell trying to use a proprietary application. After all, when there are perfectly functional free alternatives around (with which I am more than willing to help), if they would still suffer through a proprietary application, now I can honestly tell myself that it's their own fault.

I can only hope this isn't just a phase.