'It is fine not to like a piece of Free software' and other oft-unstated FOSS-related freedoms

There are plenty more than that - or, at least, many freedoms which are inherent in, or arise from, those four freedoms - most of which go unstated most of the time.

This is far from a complete list, but rather my jottings based on ponderings and observations from the last few days, across a couple of different (intentionally unstated / unlinked here) things.

A user has the freedom not to like a piece software, or some facet of it or its governance. Its UI. Its functionality. Its name. Its direction. Of course it is frustrating if something is a pain to use, whether that’s because one is used to a GUI and the software only offers a CLI, or whatever it might be. Of course it is problematic when a project persists in using a name which is an ableist slur.

A user has the freedom to grumble about the software, or how some facet of the software means that they are not going to use the software. (Well, freedom within the constraints of the rules of whatever system they are using to document that grumble; if they’re doing so on someone else’s computer, whoever runs that computer has the freedom not to permit that grumble…). And, IMHO, the expectation that they should be free to do so without harassment.

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