Keith Watson Keith.Watson@Kewill.com wrote:
[...] sometimes they produce good products and, as professionals(?), we should always use the best (in our own judgement) tools for the job in hand and trying to put our personal prejudices aside.
I think the question is, really, what weighting do you give to the practical benefits of the four freedoms, and do ethics matter when deciding what is the "best" tool? Is it purely a technical scoring decision and to hell with ethical as long as the job gets done? Does your reasoning hold only for computing, or for other things? Do you recycle? Do you use sustainable energy sources? Do you bank with someone who funds arms sales? Where is your pension money invested? etc...
UEA actually seems to have quite a good tradition in considering ethics in places where others do not, even if it sometimes takes a little prompting for TPTB to wake up. Maybe just a little prompting is needed again?
MJR