Recently I purchased a copy of The Economist in order to break a $20 bill for train fare, and of course to read on the train, and I just so happened to end up with an issue that had an Apple-related cover story and an interesting interview with Mark Shuttleworth, the african-native-space-tourist-software-visionary behind Ubuntu and One Laptop Per Child.  Mr Shuttleworth, a brilliant and stern humanitarian, expressed to The Economist that he felt what the world of Free and Open-Source Software needs is a focus on usability and a departure from "Religious" stance.  While I agree and face on a daily basis the common usability issues in F/OSS, in the course of educating folks, I am also a usability professional and feel that some things are being overlooked here:

1. The entire computer software applications field is shifting toward the web, which is changing a lot of aspects of what "usability" means.
2. Usability-focused individuals are not cheap, and only in the world of the web are they becoming able to spearhead project development and participate in the selection of technology solutions which meet their demands.  F/OSS solutions are often developed in engineering-heavy environments where people will listen to the ethical arguments of the cause.
3. Free Software is not a Religion, it embodies an ethical dilemma, and no matter how many solutions to that dilemma surface, as long as there is proprietary software, some pure engineering progress will be stymied by conflicts in licensing terms.  The license that Ubuntu primarily uses was authored and advocated by someone who sacrified a lucrative career as an MIT educated engineer and scientist to do so, and it is a disservice to *that* visionary for a new-age visionary to belitte his concerns.  I'll just stop now and avoid any risk of invoking Godwin's law.
4. The "easier" something is to use, in some cases, the less learning is encouraged by its' use.  Access to knowledge via initiatives like OLPC are great, but also, what if some of those children learn to repair electronics, or to reinstall and/or reconfigure the OLPC operating system software?  Maybe they can also learn to repair other electronics.

In any case, I do think this was a very valuable article, and that Mr. Shuttleworth's contributions to the at-large Free and Open-Source Software Community and to the world as a whole are valuable, but that maybe it should be considered for just a moment that, yanno, it's not a revelation that usability work in Free Software is not common.  Dollars can change that a lot, companies run by IT Managers and Directors who understand that they have got to contribute direclty to R&D in lieu of paying licensing fees.  It's not a different cost, just a different way of dispersing it.

;)