> When people were coming up with the idea of computer literacy being ubiquitous

If you require everyone to have a computer/phone to live in society for example by digital ID - then is ubiquitous and you must regard it as such.

> This incredibly selfish point of view put forth by a particular sect of _OSS polls sufficiently well at the engineer's only meeting in Palo Alto and nowhere else.

No one forces you to change your OS. No one forces you to code. No one forces you to dissemble. No one forces you to compile. No one forces you to add or remove certification authority (change the trust).

We only want to force corporations and states to allow Us to do that to device we own.

You are already responsible on code - closed source also GIVES NO WARRANTY.

> sect

the 'sect' as you called it - envisioned world in which when you get device you have driver to it and code to it.

Should manufacturer decide that you will get no new updates - you COULD go to another company and buy updates from them - because you would have ownership of software.

Should your phone manufacturer decide that you will not get no new updates - you COULD go to another company and buy updates from them - because you would have ownership of software.

Should your washing machine manufacturer decide to s-you and force you to connect to cloud via their app - you COULD go to another company and buy software that doesn't force you to do that, and let them install it for you - because you would have ownership of software.

If you want to use smart home - you could without any manufacturer connectivity bs - because you would have ownership of software.

You could decide that you trust company A for OS updates - and if they deceive your trust, change it to B. because you would have ownership of software.

Yes you would need to pay for updates and software - unless software company did sign a real deal with you for your data.

I hate when people say that Free Software is communism - it is not, it is consumer capitalism in purest form.

The whole point wasn't you SHOULD do it yourself - but you CAN do it yourself. The problem - you need market before any company can enter it. No libre drivers, no libre firmware - no such company.

And before anyone asks - yes you could extend it to cars. You would need stricter CA check (here you can make a reasonable exception that self-signed should not work) on that type of device though, but no longer ONLY MANUFACTURER. Why would you pay another company to do software updates / change when you do buy a repair / parts from third party?

This was intent - not 'increase self-dentistry literacy' - the literacy part came from the users of Linux mostly - you should think about it as after-effect.

> The solution to a bridge collapsing is to increase civil engineering literacy?

If the bridge collapsed because you have no good engineers then yes.

> How much of how many literacies will we be willing to acquire so as to balance the responsibility we ask of every other profession and even those who are low and unskilled?

You are not making good engineers/politicians/doctors etc. if you take ones who want to get paid big money - you are making good ones if the people teach are interested in their work and are willing to get better in it.

To do that you must give them opportunity to grow.

You need casual->small->big->"anti-monopoly split" company path

if you remove casual you don't have a market, you have a graveyard of one.