RMS On Why Free Software Is More Important Now Than Ever Before 319
jrepin points out an article by Richard Stallman following up on the 30th anniversary of the start of his efforts on the GNU Project. RMS explains why he thinks we should continue to push for broader adoption of free software principles. He writes,
"Much has changed since the beginning of the free software movement: Most people in advanced countries now own computers — sometimes called “phones” — and use the internet with them. Non-free software still makes the users surrender control over their computing to someone else, but now there is another way to lose it: Service as a Software Substitute, or SaaSS, which means letting someone else’s server do your own computing activities. Both non-free software and SaaSS can spy on the user, shackle the user, and even attack the user. Malware is common in services and proprietary software products because the users don’t have control over them. That’s the fundamental issue: while non-free software and SaaSS are controlled by some other entity (typically a corporation or a state), free software is controlled by its users. Why does this control matter? Because freedom means having control over your own life. ... Schools — and all educational activities — influence the future of society through what they teach. So schools should teach exclusively free software, to transmit democratic values and the habit of helping other people. (Not to mention it helps a future generation of programmers master the craft.) To teach use of a non-free program is to implant dependence on its owner, which contradicts the social mission of the school. Proprietary developers would have us punish students who are good enough at heart to share software or curious enough to want to change it."
Re:congratulations (Score:5, Informative)
The man is the real deal. Seriously.
Re:at the mercy of the owners (Score:5, Informative)
That certainly is seen as a problem, and the AGPL is supposed to address the loophole. Adoptions isn't that big though, although some large players like Oracle uses it for certain software packages like for example Berkeley DB.
Re:at the mercy of the owners (Score:5, Informative)
Should the GPL be adapted to deal with that? Could it?
You mean this:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-affero-gpl.html [gnu.org]
Yes it can and has been adapted for that situation.
Re:at the mercy of the owners (Score:5, Informative)
So saying "One thing the FSF's licences haven't dealt with properly" is uninformed bullshit.
Lol, unnecessary hostility. Since
1) Few service providers have adopted Affero; and
2) It doesn't deal with the problem of lack of "control over the computing the server does for them. It also does not tell them what other software may be running on that server, examining or changing their data in other ways." [gnu.org]; yet
3) other FSF licences are extremely popular,
the Affero licence clearly hasn't dealt with it.