Is it acceptable to use proprietary software (platforms) to promote software freedom?

[Daniel Pocock]

On 27/07/17 14:05, Nikos Roussos wrote:
> 
> 
>> I remain concerned about defining the reason we want or need these
>> followers and then measuring whether that objective is being met.
>>
>> To give another example: Greece's government successfully mobilized
>> enough of their citizens to vote against a bailout in a referendum[1],
>> but then the result of the referendum was simply ignored.  Getting 1000
>> people in a room or 3,558,450 in a ballot box is potentially a lot of
>> wasted effort if nothing actually changes.
> 
> That's actually a good example. Since I live in Greece let me emphasize something. Yes, in theory the referendum didn't change anything. But for most of the people who participated (regardless what they voted), this was their first time they got politically active. They engaged in political discussions, participated in rallies, challenged mainstream media propaganda, etc. And most of them continue to be active. So, regardless of what the government did, everything changed.
> 

It is worth looking at impact on people's lives, three things come to mind:

1. Youth unemployment - down a little bit, but still obscenely high:

https://tradingeconomics.com/greece/youth-unemployment-rate

2. Using the Euro: Greece is still using EUR (no change)

3. Long term solution to debt problem (e.g. redistribution of taxes
between Eurozone countries or debt write-off): No, no change

Those are the things that matter and the mobilization of 3.5 million
people to successfully vote against a bailout hasn't fixed any of those
things.

In free software advocacy, what are the outcomes we should really be
measuring?

Regards,

Daniel