Re: GNOME and the free software movement [LWN.net]

From:		Joachim Noreiko <jnoreiko-AT-yahoo.com>
To:		rms-AT-gnu.org, foundation-list-AT-gnome.org
Subject:		Re: GNOME and the free software movement
Date:		Sat, 25 Nov 2006 22:51:53 +0000 (GMT)
Archive-link:		Article, Thread

--- Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> wrote:

> We stated GNOME
> to blunt the
> danger of the (then) non-free QT library.  I think
> most GNOME users
> and developers today are not aware of this.

I'm aware of that, yes.

I first came to Gnome because I want software that is
good -- it just so happens that in the free software
world I can chip in and make a difference (I haven't
tried sending my CV to Apple, but I doubt they'd hire
me).

> for the advance of computer users' freedom.

What freedoms exactly?

The computer users I know can't code. What are they
going to with the source code they have the freedom to
modify?
And free as in beer makes no difference to them: they
either got their Windows XP with their Dell, or from a
bloke they know with a CD burner.

Freedoms that you can't exercise are meaningless.

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Re: GNOME and the free software movement

Posted Dec 2, 2006 21:31 UTC (Sat) by djao (subscriber, #4263) [Link]

Here is an edge case that illustrates one way regular users can benefit from the freedoms inherent in free software:

Joe P. User runs an AMD64 operating system. Joe P. User would like to be able to view websites that require Flash. Unfortunately, the only version of Flash available for download is the x86 version, and Joe P. User either does not wish to run a legacy x86 browser or does not possess the technical skills to install an x86 browser on an AMD64 system.

If the source code for Flash Player had been open source, then there would certainly be some AMD64 version of Flash available from someone in the free software community. In this case Joe P. User would have been able to download a native AMD64 version of Flash Player easily via a simple web search.

Note that Joe P. User can't code, can't compile, and indeed doesn't even understand what source code means, and yet in this (sadly hypothetical) situation he benefits from the freedoms of free software in a very measurable way.

The problem with taking a dismissive attitude towards the benefits of software freedom is that there are countless convoluted situations just like this one where non-techie non-coder regular users can potentially benefit from free software. Each scenario considered by itself in isolation might seem far-fetched, contrived, and only marginally useful, but taken together as a coherent whole the combined benefits are compelling.

Re: GNOME and the free software movement

Posted Dec 2, 2006 21:46 UTC (Sat) by cantsin (guest, #4420) [Link]

Well-taken point, but the issue goes much farther than that: Joe User won't be able to install Flash player at all if he runs Linux on PPC (whether it's a second-last generation Mac or a brandnew PS/3). And on the day Adobe-Macromedia decides to scrap Flash in favor of some newer technology, just as it ditched Director/Shockwave before, all the work that has been done in Flash will only survive if there is a free/open source Flash player that can be compiled for and installed on contemporary operating systems and hardware architectures. It should matter to Joe User a lot.