The Chronicle: Daily news: 12/10/2004 -- 01

The Chronicle is reporting that Penn State U. has advised its computer network users to steer clear of IE and embrace Firefox. This is a great move and one that I hope will ultimately lead to universities abandoning Microsoft altogether. There are not only alternatives to Windows and Microsoft Office--there are BETTER alternatives. Of course, the critical thing isn't just that a program like Firefox is faster, safer, or more innovative than Internet Explorer. The vital thing is that it's free software, and parlty the result of hundreds (thousands?) of programmers donating their free time to giving the world a free (in all senses of the word) web browser. If we get "open source" without the "free software philosophy," what good is it? In the long term, it's better to stick with Microsoft than adopt "open source" software just because it's cheaper and better.