Bonum Certa Men Certa

We Welcome Richard Stallman, Again



A publication from the Free Media Alliance

I've created a monster
Cause nobody downloads GNU anymore
They want Linux
I'm chopped liver



Well if you want Linux,
This is what I'll give ya
A little GCC
And the GNU Debugger



- Slim Stallman



They want Linux cause nobody downloads GNU anymore



Summary: "The Free software Federation is not an organisation, it is a collective term."

Today is a day for Free software and playful cleverness.



There was a time, when Free software was a grassroots movement. Do you remember those days? They're coming again.

People are going to make it happen, and are already making it happen.

Without a vote, without permission, without even firing the old guard and indeed, right under their noses, comes:

The Free software Federation

Now, this will probably run afoul of trademark issues sooner or later. And that's not important, because the name is not the idea. The idea is what's important.

So why even call it the Free software Federation?

Two reasons:

1. Because that's what it is.

2. Because that's what (other) people are already calling it.

The people calling this thing the Free software Federation did not authorise the name, they gave it the name. If and when they are required to do so, they will give it some other name.

But this is a federation that has existed for a while, it just didn't get very much publicity. That's about to change.

The Free software Federation is not an organisation, it is a collective term.

Who runs the Federation? The groups that belong to it.

The FSF runs the FSF.

SFC speaks for SFC.

The Association For User Freedom... doesn't even exist yet, but we look forward to them joining us.

And to the Free software Force, Hi! You may have more supporters than you realise.

Speaking of supporters, Hello Richard! Here is your small army of coders and advocates. We never left you. Don't worry, many of us support the FSF getting back up and running again as soon as possible.

We are calling for you to return to the board, where you belong!

But here's a question for the GNUisance and GNUFather: what if FSF failed? What if it fell? A lot of us are very upset, and some of don't think you can any more remove Stallman from Free software than you can remove Einstein from Relativity.

So the Free software Federation is a page that defines it as "a de facto group of organisations and institutions that advocate for Free software."

In a sense, this is not so much a definition as commentary on what already exists.

We are here, and so are you. And we are just as real as the groups on this list.

These are the groups who stand for Free software. The list is growing.

Yes, the FSF is among them. In fact it is by far the most established Free software organisation of all time. Through years of smears and mischaracterisation, the FSF has stood the test of time.

We hope it will continue to do so -- better with you, than without you.

But should it fall, we don't wish for there to be "nothing" in its place.

Many years ago, the United States government went to the largest telco and offered them an opportunity.

Revamp your network, so that it doesn't have a single point of failure.

The telco balked, but the internet was built anyway.

That telco is still around today. But so is the Internet.

And so now you have the FSF, and -- you have the Free software Federation.

Maybe you think this is crazy, and maybe you want nothing to do with this. The only problem of course, is that the Federation is:

"a de facto group of organisations and institutions that advocate for Free software."

And you sir, are most certainly an institution. None of this existed without you, and it still exists because of you.

When I first talked about this, I was thinking of a phrase. When I talked to someone in particular about this, they echoed that phrase though I had not said it.

That phrase, was "playful cleverness."

Long Live rms, and Happy Hacking.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Speed of GNU/Linux
The media seldom speaks of the dangers of "proprietary software"
Proprietary Windows Versus "Linux" News (Trying to Keep People on Windows, Never Exploring GNU/Linux)
Good editors know better how to recognise threats and not give them lip service
Ensuring That Every Computer User Anywhere in the World Can Take Control of All His or Her Computers
We must fight the people who attack general-purpose computing, in particular those who push this agenda very aggressively inside Linux
Gemini Links 28/04/2025: Autism and Structural Navigation
Links for the day
What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: The Purge, the Cover-up, and the Witch-hunts
OSI has gone "full Microsoft"
 
Links 28/04/2025: Canada's Election, Pakistan-India Conflict
Links for the day
Glue Inside Your Pizza (or Why People Will Get Fed Up With Slop)
People are given "answers" from non-intelligence word dumpsters
Links 28/04/2025: Cyberattacks Happening, Chatbots Disappointing, and "Free Speech Under Fire"
Links for the day
Phone Adoption Very Low in Vatican, Windows Usage Fell Nonetheless
Even in places where people still use desktops/laptops most of the time (and have access to these) Windows is gradually losing ground
GNU/Linux 9% in Cuba, Vista 11 Waning, Android Dominant
Microsoft has pretty much lost Cuba
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, April 27, 2025
In 24 Countries Observed by statCounter Vista 11 is Still Less Than a Quarter of Windows Users Despite All Other Versions Being 'Expired'
They ought to move to GNU/Linux
Links 27/04/2025: Pope Goodbyes, "Politics of Fear", Slop Redux and More Google Shutdowns (Google Debt Had Grown This Year)
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Serenity Dialectics, Hockey Jersey Ethics, and More
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Death of Nest Thermostats, Death of Metaverse
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Projects Workflow and Discovering Technology
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 26, 2025
Microsoft Isn't on the Map in USSR
To them, it's either Google or Yandex
In Central America Windows Became a Small Force
These are countries where Windows used to have well over 95% of the "market"
What's Very Vexing to GAFAM, EPO and Others Is That It's Incredibly Hard to Censor Us (and Nobody Ever Successfully Did That Before)
resist, do not capitulate
Site May be Even Faster Now
It basically takes less than a tenth of a second to serve the page
Receiving SLAPPs and Collecting Them Like Trophies (the SLAPPs Always Fail)
People who file lawsuits bring even more attention to themselves (or to embarrassing statements about them)
Year of GNU/Linux on the Laptop?
It's not happening only in Lenovo
What People Must Understand About the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
some facts about the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
Many of the Scandals Are Interconnected (Overlapping People and Corporations)
We're only getting started
More Copyright Lawsuits Against LLM Slop Providers and Suppliers of LLM Slopfarms Would Benefit Society
It's not just bad for the Web and for society; it's also legally dangerous
Links 26/04/2025: General Assassinated in the Town of Balashikha, US Promoting Seafloor Mining
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025