I want to tell you some kind of so-called success story of one company (where I work nowadays): company that chose freedom path as a base for software development. There are many “theoretical” talks about how free software can be used commercially, that it can greatly stimulate business activity and so on. There are very few real life examples of that.
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It’s About Freedom, Not Mere Visibility of Code
Another important reminder of semantics and why there should be more emphasis on liberty (freedom)
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"Intellectual Property" a Violation of Real Property
Pretending that ownership of software is possible and thus trying to enforce this ownership (as copyright and patent laws do) actually leads us to violations of actual physical property.
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The Importance of an Open Internet
Being against net neutrality is one of those arguments that on first glance seems reasonable. The power company, after all, charges us more as we consume more electricity--why shouldn't Internet carriers be allowed to charge based on data load and regulate traffic accordingly?
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FSF Hostility/Disagreement from a Libertarian, TechDirt, and Microsoft General Counsel
This post addresses common new criticisms of the FSF and/or its philosophy
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Failure as a springboard to success
Communities are fundamentally networks of people; people with emotions, passions and insecurities. When we connect these people together, particularly in an online environment, the core of the human condition is laid bare.
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GNU Four Freedoms Translated for Users
I was reading an article about Freesoftware adoption and it noted that the freedoms afforded by the GNU Gpl were written largely for developers not end users. So I figured I would take a shot at positing the four freedoms to general users.
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“Open Core” Is the New Shareware
Ultimately, “Open Core” is a glorified shareware situation. As a user, you get some subset of functionality, and may even get the four freedoms with regard to that subset. But, when you want the “good stuff”, you've got to take a proprietary license. And, this is true whether the Core is GPL'd or permissively licensed.
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What if buying a new car were like using nonfree software?
What if buying a new car were like using nonfree software? While the following example may seem a little far-fetched, it is a pretty good analogy to understand the importance of user freedoms in software.
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Free on free > proprietary on free > free on proprietary > proprietary on proprietary
Okay so I think we can all agree that proprietary software shouldn't be promoted by the FOSS community. It also seems to be acceptable to promote the use of free software applications on proprietary OSes. So why is there a problem with promoting the use of proprietary applications on free OSes?
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Free on free > proprietary on free > free on proprietary > proprietary on proprietary
Okay so I think we can all agree that proprietary software shouldn't be promoted by the FOSS community. It also seems to be acceptable to promote the use of free software applications on proprietary OSes. So why is there a problem with promoting the use of proprietary applications on free OSes?
Let's break it down. There are four combinations of apps and OSes:
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Richard Stallman Speaks
I had the honor and pleasure of speaking to Richard Stallman a few days ago while he was in New Zealand on a speaking tour. I had been in an email conversation with him over several days asking about which software programs he uses and I finally connected with him for some clarification and more details.
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Open Source vs Free Software - a Philosophical discussion
Everyone is aware of the huge fuss going on at present. What we have appears to be a conflict between two philosophical viewpoints, fueled by claims that one community is under attack by the other community. This is wrong, and here's why:
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Whats wrong with the world? I give up!
"There is a website that feeds CCTV to viewers who compete on who can report the most crime. It is called Internet eyes.
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Free as in Speech vs. Free as in Beer, Redux
"Well it's bound to be popular isn't it?" you'll hear the non-tech savvy say. "Everyone loves something that's free."
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