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1. Overcoming Social Inertia {#overcoming-social-inertia .chapter}
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克服社会惯性
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@firstcopyingnotice{{Copyright © 2007, 2009 Richard Stallman {This essay was originally published on <http://gnu.org>, in 2007. This version is part of @fsfsthreecite}

@firstcopyingnotice{{Copyright © 2007, 2009 Richard Stallman {本文最初于 2007 年发布于 <http://gnu.org>。 此版本为 @fsfsthreecite 的一部分}

Almost two decades have passed since
the combination of GNU and Linux first made it possible to use a PC in
freedom. We have come a long way since then. Now you can even buy a
laptop with GNU/Linux preinstalled from more than one hardware
vendor—although the systems they ship are not entirely free software. So
what holds us back from total success?

自从 GNU 和 Linux 的结合使得自由地使用个人计算机（PC）成为可能已过去将近 20 年时间。我们也由此走过了一段漫长的历程。现在，您甚至可以从不止一家硬件供应商那里买到一台预装了 GNU/Linux 的便携计算机——尽管它自带的操作系统发行版可能不是完全由自由软件组成的。那么，究竟是什么阻止了我们获得完全的成功呢？

The main obstacle to the triumph of software freedom is social inertia.
It exists in many forms, and you have surely seen some of them. Examples
include devices that only work on Windows and commercial web sites
accessible only with Windows. If you value short-term convenience
instead of freedom, you might consider these reason enough to use
Windows. Most companies currently run Windows, so students who think
short-term want to learn how to use it and ask their schools to teach
it. Schools teach Windows, produce graduates that are used to using
Windows, and this encourages businesses to use Windows.

通往软件自由的胜利之路上的主要障碍是社会惯性。它有多种存在形式，而且您一定曾经见识过它们当中的某些形式。例如某些设备只能在 Windows 操作系统下使用，以及某些商业网站只能在 Windows 下访问等。如果您相对于自由更加看重短期的易用性价值，您可能认为这些理由足以说服您使用 Windows。很多公司目前正在使用 Windows，因此那些思考短期价值的学生将会想要学习怎样使用 Windows 并且要求学校讲授 Windows。然后学校就会讲授 Windows，从而培养出一届又一届只习惯于使用 Windows 的毕业生，而这又会鼓励公司使用 Windows。

Microsoft actively nurtures this inertia: it encourages schools to
inculcate dependency on Windows, and contracts to set up web sites that
then turn out to work only with Internet Explorer.

微软一直在积极培养这种社会惯性：它鼓励学校反复灌输对 Windows 的依赖性，并且约定企业建立起了众多经后来证明只能从 Internet Explorer 浏览器访问的网站。

A few years ago, Microsoft ads argued that Windows was cheaper to run
than GNU/Linux. Their comparisons were debunked, but it is worth noting
the deeper flaw in their argument, the implicit premise which cites a
form of social inertia: “Currently, more technical people know Windows
than GNU/Linux.” People who value their freedom would not give it up to
save money, but many business executives believe ideologically that
everything they possess, even their freedom, should be for sale.

几年以前，微软的广告试图论证运行 Windows 比运行 GNU/Linux 更加低成本。这些广告所做出的比较已经被揭穿。但是仍然值得注意的是，它们的论证中的深层次的瑕疵。一条暗含的前提条件援引一种形式的社会惯性，即“目前更多的技术人员相对于 GNU/Linux 更加熟悉 Windows”。真正珍视自由的人们不会为了节约成本而放弃自由，但是很多企业的执行官在思想意识上仍然坚信他们所拥有的任何东西都应该是用于买卖的，甚至是他们的自由。

Social inertia consists of people who have given in to social inertia.
When you surrender to social inertia, you become part of the pressure it
exerts on others; when you resist it, you reduce it. We conquer social
inertia by identifying it, and resolving not to be part of it.

社会惯性由那些屈从于社会惯性的人们构成。当您屈从于社会惯性时，您也成为了这种施加于他人的无形的压力的一部分。而当您抵抗这种社会惯性的时候，您已经削弱了它的存在。我们可以这样征服社会惯性：认识它，并且坚定地拒绝成为它的一部分。

Here a weakness holds our community back: most GNU/Linux users have
never even heard the ideas of freedom that motivated the development of
GNU, so they still judge matters based on short-term convenience rather
than on their freedom. This makes them vulnerable to being led by the
nose by social inertia, so that they become part of the inertia.

这是一个阻碍我们的社区发展的弱点：大部分 GNU/Linux 用户甚至从未听说过曾经推动了 GNU 运动的自由理念，因此他们仍然倾向于根据短期的易用性来评价事物，而非基于他们的自由。这使得他们更易被社会惯性牵住鼻子，从而也成为这种社会惯性的一部分。

To build our community’s strength to resist, we need to talk about free
software and freedom—not merely about the practical benefits that open
source supporters cite. As more people recognize what they need to do to
overcome the inertia, we will make more progress.

为了建立起我们的社区力量以抵抗社会惯性，我们需要谈论自由软件和自由理念——而非仅仅谈论那些开源支持者们所援引的实践上的好处。随着更多人认识到他们为了克服社会惯性需要做什么，我们将会取得更大进展。

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