For years the free and open source software people would say that the number one enemy, the devil on earth, the only factor blocking us from flooding the mass market with gnomes, mice and strange k-prefixed creatures is the company from Redmond. But is it still the case today?
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Anybody up to writing good directory software?
Tue, 2007-02-20 11:17 — David JonathanSince the very beginning, directories (of any kind) have had a very central role in the internet. (I have recently grown fond of Free Web Directory. Even Slashdot can be considered a directory: a collection of great news and invaluable user-generated comments. As far as software is concerned, doing a quick search on Google about software directories will return the free (as in freedom) software directories like Savannah, SourceForge, Freshmeat and so on, followed by shareware and freeware sites such as FileBuzz, PCWin Download Center and All Freeware (great if you're looking for shareware and freeware, but definitely less comprehensive than their free-as-in-freedom counterparts).
Is better education the key to finding better software?
Sat, 2007-03-03 03:25 — Edward RusselI read David Jonathon's article Anybody Up To Writing Good Directory Software? the other day, which got me thinking about software directories in general. As David mentioned, many of the software directories one finds when doing a quick google search are free as in beer, not as in freedom. But what interests me is the software directories that already exist, providing a combination of both free as in beer software, and open source software. Sites such as Freeware Downloads and Shareware Download don't advertise themselves as providing free as in liberty software, but each of them have a good selection of open source software available... if you know where to look.
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The enemy of free software
The enemy of free software today is the same as it has always been: the people that hold an unjust power over the rest of society. This means the masters over proprietary software, the masters over digital restriction technologies, the masters over software patents and authority figures such as federal governments.
I would say the number one enemy of free software is not just Microsoft. The real danger is general ignorance and apathy towards freedom. Microsoft may be the company that has caused the most damage to freedom, but that damage exists because they've managed to convince people that their software systems of convenience is more important than freedom. If society cared about their freedom, Microsoft could never hold such power over society.
The fact of the matter is, all proprietary software holds an unjust power over society. It doesn't matter if the software comes from Adobe, Nintendo, Konami, Apple, Sony, or Microsoft, everybody that accepts proprietary software cannot live in freedom. The thing that is stopping society from adopting our systems of freedom are general apathy, ignorance and a higher value placed towards expedient satisfaction over freedom.