Oops . . . too much copy paste caused repetition of a phrase. Last para
should read:

As operating systems continue to embrace systemd, users are increasingly
being denied the freedom to substitute alternate free software
components
to perform the same function. Thankfully, users still have a choice.
Devuan
and other non-systemd operating systems are continuing to provide and
nurture modular free software including init.

Probably still more to tweak . . . it's a process to improve clarity and
word economy. :)

golinux

On 2019-10-08 14:10, golinux@??? wrote:
> In order to stylistically adapt mason's latest contribution to the
> free software page, to reduce redundancy (minimalism rules! Word
> count-44 from 275 to 231) and to end on a more positive note that
> reinforces the concept of modular free software, I have taken some
> time to offer an alternate version. Suggestions for improvement
> welcome. Original posted below. Thank you mason. :)
>
> golinux
>
> ====================================================================
>
> Historically, one of the unique attributes of the free software
> movement
> has been the modular nature of system components. Anyone could write a
> replacement for an existing component and if the software they wrote
> was
> reliable and presented novel features, it might become the preferred
> solution
> for a particular task. Over time, contributions from a large, diverse
> group
> of free software developers created an extensive collection of code
> that gave
> users many choices to serve almost any function - mailers, loggers, web
> servers, process monitors, domain name system software - with the list
> going
> on nearly indefinitely. The flexibility, suitability and variety of
> free
> software has made it the preferred platform for writing and running
> software
> services of all types.
>
> Contrary to the Unix philosophy to "do one thing and do it well",
> systemd
> seeks to do all things. By offering tightly-integrated modules that are
> heavily
> dependent upon one another rather than adhering to portable, proven,
> multi-
> vendor POSIX standards honed through decades of developer experience
> running
> complex, critical, real-world computer systems, systemd seeks to define
> a new,
> defacto standard.
>
> As operating systems continue to embrace systemd, tightly-integrated
> modules
> that are heavily dependent upon one another, are increasingly denying
> users the
> freedom to substitute alternate free software components to perform the
> same
> function. Devuan and other non-systemd operating systems are continuing
> to
> provide modular free software and init freedom.
>
> ====================================================================
>
> One of the unique attributes of the free software world historically
> has
> been the modular nature of system components. There was opportunity for
> anyone with an interest in doing so to write a replacement for a
> component, and if the software they wrote was reliable and presented
> novel
> features, it might become the preferred solution for that particular
> task.
> The end result of this was that a wide variety of code from a large,
> diverse group of free software developers saw use in many systems,
> giving
> free software users a choice in what software they used. Because of
> this,
> we have a number of excellent free software solutions to serve almost
> every function - mailers of various sorts, loggers, web servers,
> process
> monitors, domain name system software, with the list going on nearly
> indefinitely, and this flexibility and suitability has made free
> software
> the preferred platform for writing and running software services of all
> types.
>
> One of the issues with systemd is that, contrary to the Unix philosophy
> of
> "do one thing and do it well", systemd seeks to do all things, and to
> explicitly crowd out other software by offering tightly-integrated
> modules
> that are heavily dependent upon one another. As operating systems
> integrate systemd, the temptation exists to run more and more systemd
> code, with each piece being difficult to replace individually given
> systemd's lack of interest in portability or standards compliance.
> Systemd
> seeks to define a new, defacto standard, controlled by the relatively
> small and isolated group of systemd developers, rather than adhering to
> portable, proven, multi-vendor POSIX standards, honed through decades
> of
> experience running complex, critical, real-world computer systems.