Why Swatantra Software?

This site was intended to be a resource for legal material relating to Kerala. Today, it is much more. In the early days of developing this site, I was testing what I believed to be HTML Standards version 4.01 compliant code on different browsers, and was surprised to find that not only HTML but also images in a popular graphics format called .png (portable network graphics) did not display properly in that widely used browser. I investigated the issue and discovered that the problem was with the browser.

I thought that this was a bug in the browser. Possibility of a bug being present in the most popular browser confused me. Why did it not comply with the HTML standards prescribed by an international organisation? But deeper investigation showed that it was not a bug, but a feature. A feature, not of the software, but of the business strategy of the corporate which created the broswer. The corporate was deliberately creating browsers which would properly render only those pages created using its own HTML authoring software. But their HTML authoring software did not output HTML code which complied with the standards prescribed by the World Wide Web Consortium. In other words, only pages created using software from this giant would display properly in the browser from that company. Web masters who wanted their pages to be cleanly rendered in most widely used browser would be forced to use software from the same corporate. This was a very clever business trick. But, I regarded this as a move to subvert standards. Not only did this practise tend to subvert standards, but also was against public and consumer interest.

It turns out that there are several people sharing my views. There are several organisations and groups working towards this end.

Today, I am deeply committed to the cause of freeing up software from clutches of mercenary corporates. Software is a means of communications. It is like language. Your language and its grammar should not be constrained by concepts like copyright laws and patents. (This does not mean that law of copyright should not apply to software).

I now use Debian GNU/Linux for daily use. I browse the net, compose letters, create these pages, draw pictures (heh!! heh!!! - Me?? drawing pictures???? Heh!!! heh!!! but it is soooo easy with debian) view films, listen to music, compose and edit music, play chess and free cell, all on Debian. More on the Debian GNU/Linux can be found here.