Hi. I'm Andrew

On the Internet, proprietary software isn't the only way to lose your freedom. Software as a Service is another way to let someone else have power over your computing.

Background: How Proprietary Software Takes Away Your Freedom

Digital technology can give you freedom; it can also take your freedom away. The first threat to our control over our computing came from proprietary software: software that the users cannot control because the owner (a company such as Apple or Microsoft) controls it. The owner often takes advantage of this unjust power by inserting malicious features such as spyware, back doors, and Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) (referred to as “Digital Rights Management” in their propaganda).

Our solution to this problem is developing free software and rejecting proprietary software. Free software means that you, as a user, have four essential freedoms: (0) to run the program as you wish, (1) to study and change the source code so it does what you wish, (2) to redistribute exact copies, and (3) to redistribute copies of your modified versions. (See the free software definition.)

With free software, we, the users, take back control of our computing. Proprietary software still exists, but we can exclude it from our lives and many of us have done so. However, we now face a new threat to our control over our computing: Software as a Service. For our freedom's sake, we have to reject that too.

Learn how you can make it by on free software. At the end of this article you can find links to all the programs mentioned. These programs are great alternatives for many mainstream applications, there are usually free versions of most general usage programs out there so keep your eye out.

Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer.

Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it means that the program's users have the four essential freedoms:

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

The Free Software Definition.

Setting the mood things up. Things you need to remember when you talk about Free Software. Next post will be Open Source Software. If you have good definition, please feel free to post on the comment and I'll be happy to repost it here. :)

It seems a bit hypocritical to extoll the greater freedom offered by the BSD license (as its supporters do), and then look askance at companies who use the rights granted to them. The dual-licensing model of MySQL is only possible because the GPL withholds certain rights from the users. It has always struck me as ironic that the primary use of the GPL in the business world is to exert control over customers and require them to pay licensing fees for uses outside the GPL. Without that option, the other business models available are pure support contracts (which don’t make for terribly compelling marketing material), or adding value to the open source code before passing it on to the customer, so they feel they’re getting something worth paying for.

1. "To be able to choose between proprietary software packages is to be able to choose your master. Freedom means not having a master. And in the area of computing, freedom means not using proprietary software."
-Richard M. Stallman

2. “Software is like sex: it's better when it's free.”
-Linus Torvalds

3. “Value your freedom or you will lose it, teaches history. 'Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn.”
-Richard M. Stallman

4. “Software patents are a huge potential threat to the ability of people to work together on open source. Making it easier for companies and communities that have patents to make those patents available in a common pool for people to use is one way to try to help developers deal with the threat.”
-Linus Torvalds

5. “If programmers deserve to be rewarded for creating innovative programs, by the same token they deserve to be punished if they restrict the use of these programs.”
-Richard M. Stallman

6. “One of the questions I've always hated answering is how do people make money in open source. And I think that Caldera and Red Hat -- and there are a number of other Linux companies going public -- basically show that yes, you can actually make money in the open-source area.”
-Linus Torvalds

7. “Control over the use of one's ideas really constitutes control over other people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more difficult.”
-Richard M. Stallman

8. “It just makes it even harder for people to even approach the (open source) side, when they then end up having to worry about ... public humiliation.”
-Linus Torvalds

9. “I founded the free software movement, a movement for freedom to cooperate. Open source was a reaction against our idealism. We are still here and the open-source people have not wiped us out.”
-Richard M. Stallman

10. "When it comes to software, I much prefer free software, because I have very seldom seen a program that has worked well enough for my needs, and having sources available can be a life-saver."
-Linus Torvalds

11. “If you focus your mind on the freedom and community that you can build by staying firm, you will find the strength to do it.”
-Richard M. Stallman

12. "Anybody who tells me I can't use a program because it's not open source, go suck on rms. I'm not interested. 99% of that I run tends to be open source, but that's _my_ choice, dammit."
-Linus Torvalds

13. “'Free software' is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of 'free' as in 'free speech,' not as in 'free beer'.”
-Richard M. Stallman

14. "I'm doing a free operating system just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu for 386 (486) AT clones."
-Linus Torvalds

15. "Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software free, just like air."
-Richard M. Stallman