| Home | My Writings |
My Tryst with Freedom is an essay explaining why I shifted from using proprietary software to Free Software. It started out as I set out to explain to myself why free software is The Right Thing but became Yet Another Advocacy Rant for free software. And I am proud of it.
I became interested in GNU/Linux during my seventh semester in my college.I had a subject "Unix Network Programming" and the book prescribed was "Unix Network Programming" by Richard Stevens.The book was heavily loaded with very interesting code examples. I only had Windows installed on my computer, so to experiment with new subject and a new operating system, I installed a GNU/Linux on my computer. Little did I know that I was opening myself to a new philosophy of life.
I had never been a reader of end user licenses, believing that if you you have seen one, you have seen them all. However, since the whole thing was new to me, I looked at the license. The preamble to the GPL caught my eye ...
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users.There was no talk of right for the software provider to gain access to my machine and apply unnecessary or unwanted updates. Neither was there any implications that hounds from hell would dodge me if I shared the software with my neighbor. That's when I got interested in GNU and the Free Software Foundation.
The idea that the I can change the software in any way I want, that I can even "decompile" it, or simply get the source code from the software developer came as a surprise to me.I set out to investigate why would someone open his creativity and let the world borrow from it? What returns does he get for his sacrifice?
The process of identifying, judging, accepting and upholding a new philosophy of life is a long and complicated process which requires thought, proof, full understanding and conviction. This is an explanation of my conversion.
One of the cornerstones of the Free Software Foundation's philosophy is that I (the user) have the freedom to modify the program to suit my needs. Well then, what about the Natural Right of the author of the software? Am I not infringing on the creativity on the program's creator when I start making changes in his creation?
Very few software work out-of-the box.In trying to be all things to all people, it's not surprising that what comes out-of-the-box is a product that serves no one.An architect uses steel, glass, concrete produced by others. But the materials remain just so much steel, glass and concrete until he touches them. What he does with them is his individual product and individual property. This is the only pattern for cooperation among men.When I buy a program I should be able to use it according to my needs. My agenda may be different than the developer's. I should be able to make modifications to it to suit my needs.
...Ayn Rand
Because I have access to source, I can survive the collapse of the software developer. And if the developer's support fees become exorbitant, I can buy support from elsewhere. Moreover, I can make bug-fixes without waiting for the developer to distinguish between a feature and a bug. I can make the changes that I want, not a fix that the developer thinks is important.
Software isn't just something new. Software is something fundamentally different. Abstract and slippery, it doesn't conform to the ordinary constraints of the real world of objects. Software doesn't wear out. A computer program that is fully debugged will perform its function forever without requiring maintenance or modification.
Instead of comparing software to material things, it would be more appropriate to compare it with an "idea". Material products can't be shared. They belong to some ultimate consumer. It is only the value of an idea that can be shared with unlimited numbers of men, making all sharers richer at no one's sacrifice, raising everyone's productive capacity and the standard of living.This is a mutual trade to mutual advantage.
Mathematical theorems and formulas can also provide an analogy with software. Imagine having to buy a copy of theorem of Pythagoras from Pythagoras Inc. each time you wanted to solve a geometrical problem. And you cannot share your copy of the theorem with your brother or neighbor.
Using software does not decrease its value.Wide spread use tends to increase its value. Users submit their own bug fixes and some may even port it to other architectures. Sharing software with my neighbor doesn't affect the software developer. He shouldn't have the power to tell me not to do these things.
What appears to be 'piracy' to a proprietary software developer is 'sharing' to me.
How can someone make money when everyone can redistribute software? Is there money in this Free Software? The most succinct phrase that catches the spirit of Free Software Foundation is "Free as in free speech , not free as in free beer ". Eric S. Raymond has given pointers about how businesses can earn their daily bread from Free Software.I expect I shall be considered presumptuous in mentioning them again, but it being my intention to write a thing which shall be useful to him who will someday walk the path from proprietary software to free software , it appears to me more appropriate not to leave things to imaginations.
Following are the business models proposed by him
This is not a comprehensive list, but I hope you get the picture.
Software is the catalyst that has made new ways of doing business and connecting people possible.While software neither feeds the hungry nor comforts the afflicted directly, it is undeniably the fuel that has driven global markets to their current levels of efficiency. Thus, indirectly, its existence has changed the human condition. Its better to have a control over software that you use, than let someone else have control over it. And that my friends are the reasons of my conversion.
| Home | My Writings |
Send me your comments . Befor mailing convert "at" in email addresses to "@" and remove any spaces in the email address. This is to prevent spamming.