Feature:Reflections on Free Software

Travis Simon has submitted to us a feature on Free Software, and his feelings about it. He talks about meeting with RMS, and his before and after views on the subject of Proprietary vs. Free sotware. I enjoyed the piece a lot.

The following was written by Slashdot Reader Travis Simon

Reflections on Free Software

by Travis Simon

I like Linux. I like it a lot. Like many, I first tasted the power of Unix at Uni while I was studying computer science. For some time, I planned on running Unix at home, and then one day I simply did it. I went into a bookstore and looked for books on Linux. I ended up choosing Slackware because it had the coolest name of all the different distributions.

I managed to get it installed along side of Windows 95, after a harrowing installation procedure. The book I was reading from gave warning after warning about how I was about to blow up my computer. Everything went fine, however, and I met my first LILO: prompt.

Relying on my youthful arrogance, I promptly set the book aside and began exploring. I was root (*grin*), and I was free to trash the system in anyway I liked. And it felt good. It felt like I had just bought a new Harley -- I could feel the engine rumbling beneath me, but I still didn't know how to get out of first gear.

It must have taken me at least three months before I got X set up. I didn't even know there was an X server for Linux. I had put the book down (bad move), and I didn't know of anyone else crazy enough to run Linux. When I finally did manage to stumble across the 'startx' command, I shut X down immediately -- the display came up off center, and I was sure I was in the process of blowing up my monitor. After I finally managed to gain up enough nerver to leave X running, I figured out that I just needed to adjust my display for the new resolution/refresh rate combination.

Time passed, and I have grown more comfortable with Linux. I've since found a number of resources on the net, and got through most of that book. I also subscribed to the Sydney Linux User's Group mailing list. I expected about 4 or 5 other people to be one list, so you can imagine my surprise when I discovered about forty new email messages in my inbox the next day. I am still not a Linux Guru, but I know enough to be dangerous. I'm running development kernels, IP Masquerading to share a modem with my Window box, Samba, and software out of CVS repositories. And, I've finally got a screenshot worthy desktop!

And yes, I have been infected with that horrible disease that makes Linux users shun all other operating systems. I regularly sing the praises of the OS, and have been known to espouse the virtues of the operating system in public arenas. Yes, I have turned into every other Slashdot reader in the world.

As you could imagine, I was thrilled when Netscape reported that they were going to release the source code for their browser. And then more big names began to announce support for Linux: IBM, Informix, and even Oracle. While all of these announcements were exciting, I secretly urned for Lotus to port thier Notes client to Linux. That was all I needed. Forget Solitaire, forget Office 98, forget Unreal -- I needed Notes.

And then an interesting thing happened. Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, author of the GNU C compiler (GCC) and Emacs, and general free software legend visited Sydney. He is a perfect candidate for an interview, so I began my campaign to get someone to do a profile. And it turned out that I was the most qualified, not to mention the most knowledgeable about Mr. Stallman, so I got assigned the task.

My first experience with free software was in University. I remember discovering that the C compiler we were using was available for free on the Internet. That seemed really odd. I couldn't imagine why anyone would just 'give away a compiler'. I didn't quite understand it, to be honest -- I figured that it must have been something to do with a University deal. My curiosity led me to the GNU pages, and boy was that a shock! I browsed through the pages with some interest, but it was a little too much to handle at the time.

As I came to use Linux more, the ideas became less confronting, and I browsed through the pages with some interest. When it came time to meet Mr. Stallman, I knew what I was getting into. He had recently been the subject of a few postings on Slashdot, and Salon Magazine published an excellent piece on him the previous week. I knew that his views where somewhat radical -- he thinks that all software should be free. In short, I was about as prepared to meet Richard Stallman as I possibly could have been. What I was not prepared for, however, was something of a small epiphany.

I picked him up for the interview, and we went to meet some friends of his for Chinese. Along the way, we made some small talk, and began to get more comfortable in each other's presence. After a pleasant lunch, we began driving around Sydney doing the interview.

After spending a number of hours together, both over lunch and conducting the interview, we found that we got along quite well. We ended up stopping by the University of Sydney because Richard had heard that they were doing some sort of Gamelan presentation. Once we found the music building, it turned out that the Gamelan group was having a rehearsal, and we were even invited to join in. It proved to be a magical experience -- one that I won't easily forget.

Richard and I spent much time together while he was in town, and I now consider him to be a friend. We had many lunches and dinners together, and I managed to catch most of his speaking engagements. We talked about many things, including many discussions about free software.

I thought that I understood free software. After all, I used Linux, so didn't that qualify me as something of an expert? However, I quickly discovered that I knew very little of free software or of its importance. Richard is a confronting person. By nature, he is a brutally honest person. He doesn't smooth any edges, and he makes no attempt to make his views more palpatable to anybody. Often, the first reaction to such confronting and foreign ideas is to recoil instinctually. I am sure that this is what has happened to many GNU/Linux users. And he will not compromise his beliefs and ideals under any circumstance.

He thinks that it is ethically wrong to use proprietary software, and that all software should ship with the right to modify and distribute the source code. That's a tough pill to swallow. It seems to go against everything that a capitalist society believes in. But, if you dig a little bit deeper, you discover that his reason for these beliefs is that he wants to live in a community where people are free to share with their neighbours. It's essentially the kindergaten rule: play nice with the other boys and girls.

Put on those terms, the philosophies become easier to swallow. He wants to be free to share his code -- and the code of others -- with the community. He grew up in a period where that was the norm, and the idea of selling programs, or preventing access to the underlying source, was every bit as foreign as the idea of free software is today.

Richard has the mind of a hacker -- very analytical and logical. If(free_software==morally_good) then propritary_software=morally_bad; It's that easy. And his honesty prevents him from trying to put any kind of icing on it. He feels that if people are uncomfortable being told that using proprietary software is immoral, there's a reason for it: improving one's morality is not meant to be easy. And the thing is, he puts his money where his mouth is. He doesn't run any proprietary software, and he spends all his time writing or promoting free software. It takes a great deal of moral conviction to begin rewriting Unix from the ground up, just so that people can run an entirely free operating system on their computer. I have grown to embrace those ideals as well. No, I do not adhere to them as strictly as Richard does -- I'm a Notes developer. But I have removed the proprietary word processor I used from my computer, and I now don't run any proprietary software at all on my main workstation.

One of the greatest concerns we both share is that people are coming to the free software world for technical reasons, without knowing the importance of freedom. With so many users moving to GNU/Linux for technical reasons, the importance of free software is becoming blurred, and many people are clamouring for more proprietary software to be ported to the GNU/Linux system. This essentially equates to sacrificing the long-term good for short-term convenience. I now agree with him. I no longer want Notes under Linux. There are a couple of free-software projects started with the aim of replacing Notes, and I fear that if Notes were released for Linux, there would be little impetus to continue those projects.

I look at the Windows world, and I see so many decisions made for political and financial reasons that, in the end, do a great deal of damage to the advancement of computer technology. It's always the consumer that gets the short end of the stick. I don't want that sort of climate to invade the our community, and I fear that it is approaching. I too came to the GNU/Linux world for technical reasons, but I am now staying for the freedom that the system offers me. And I have also pledged to promote the importance of free software, both to companies when I deal with them as a journalist, and to the GNU/Linux community by referring to the entire system using the GNU name. And while it's true that I may not hack all of the source code on my computer, I at least want it to be available to Raster for a makeover (*grin*).

We are at a turning point in the evolution of the GNU/Linux system right now. The Linux kernel has proven its merit, and free software has proven its reliability. What was once a well kept secret has now been embraced by the media and large corporations, and the impact on the free software community should not be underestimated.

For the moment, let's imagine the two extremes. Imagine running Unreal, Lotus Notes, and Office 98 under the GNU/Linux system. And if you need a database, just buy Oracle. And imagine the control of the system being lost to the corporations -- it would be just like Windows (except with less crashes). And imagine the cost of running such a system. Now, imagine a community where all software is free, and people make money off of providing support and offering custom solutions. Imagine having all the software you could want, available freely and for free on the Internet. And imagine being able to share it with the person sitting next to you.

Sure, those two visions of the future are the extremes, and neither is going to play out as exactly as described above. But we as a community can certainly shape which side of the scale the movement tips. This is a system built by the community for the community. I agree that the idea of a completely free system, complete with all the software packages one could possibly want seems impossible. However, the idea of rewriting Unix from the ground up and distributing it on the Internet seems impossible. And the idea that an arrogant 21 year old college student could write the Linux kernel seems impossible. And the idea of rewriting Photoshop seems impossible. And the idea of rewriting the SMB protocol seems impossible.

I am not going to tell anyone what to think, or what to believe in, but I would urge anyone that uses free software to learn its history, and to consider the issues with an open mind. They are important issues, and deserve a great deal of thought and respect.

I think I will recompile my kernel now.