From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Yuri Khan Subject: Re: General advice beyond Org Date: Fri, 18 May 2018 17:54:45 +0700 Message-ID: References: <7dc580d0ea76c21328dc586ffadb5499@openmail.cc> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: In-Reply-To: <7dc580d0ea76c21328dc586ffadb5499@openmail.cc> List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "help-gnu-emacs" To: edgar@openmail.cc Cc: help-gnu-emacs , Org-mode List-Id: emacs-orgmode.gnu.org On Fri, May 18, 2018 at 7:29 AM wrote: > _I_ need help. I am in graduate school, and I keep having issues with my > advisor for my strong inclination to use free software. I am obviously > not in position to refuse, but she dislikes to have discussions about > it. She pays a stipend to me every month, and my tuition is wa[i]ved. > Is anyone here aware of a place where they do computational human > biomechanics, mechanics, materials or finite elements where I could > interact with free software? (having github, LaTeX, Python, etc.; avoid > Micro$oft products, Matlab, Mathematica, etc.). Is there no place where > one can simply use free software on a daily basis? Are you required to pay for licenses for proprietary software you are asked to use? Chances are, your school is getting academic discounts, and you get to use it for no charge. Your instructors and professors probably have a lot of experience with those tools. They are understandably reluctant to switch, because the tools work well enough for them. Also, as a student, you do not have sufficient influence to convert everybody at your school to free software. > As a student or junior faculty, how do you go about this? Do you just > nod and wave your freedom good bye? The point of education is to get exposed to many tools, techniques and workflows. By limiting yourself to free software only, you will miss out. Be a scout in the proprietary camp. Learn the tools your instructors are willing to teach. Learn what it takes to achieve the same results with free software. Learn the difference in workflows and user experience. You will find something you can do with free software that you don=E2=80=99= t know how to do with proprietary tools. Ask your teachers. They will either point you at something you missed (and then you can study it); or they will admit that feature is nice but their tool doesn=E2=80=99t have it (and then you h= ave demonstrated the merits of free software); or they will say it=E2=80=99s no= t important. You will also likely find more than a few points where non-free software delivers better UX. Use that knowledge to improve free software so that it can compete with proprietary software on UX terms, not only on the issue of freedom.