High-Priority Proposals for the FSF in 2021

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2021-03-23 17:04:54 UTC
Modified: 2021-03-23 17:10:08 UTC

Summary: Some personal suggestions or a list of things that would help the FSF succeed and keep growing (and remaining relevant) for decades to come

Offer a compelling way to replace the GitHub (Microsoft) near-monopoly with something that is self-hosted, preferably decentralised to a certain degree, and without a "Community Edition" (everything is for the community). It's already work in progress based on our understanding.

Promote the use of existing remote work (or conferencing, teaching etc.) tools, especially ones that aren't controlled by GitHub. Or try to wean them off GitHub. The latter points relates to (1).

Form a stronger coalition with Free software proponents around the world (numbers are our strength) and keep a distance from the corrupting influence (monopolies) of the Linux Foundation and OSI. In many ways they nowadays represent interests opposite to those of the FSF.

Tackle the growing threat of increasing complexity as barrier to community participation in particular projects (systemd has earned notoriety for this).

Speak about the growing threat of Clown Computing; the FSFE has done some work in that area, but many people ignore the warnings and outsource almost everything to third parties (mostly monopolies that spy).

Create a capsule for presence in Gemini space (protocol), which helps tackle most of the issues the World Wide Web has become notorious for. It can help inspire many more capsules.

Reinstate old campaigns that call out Microsoft Windows for the threat that it is (it is still a growing threat) to people's freedom.

Repudiate fake solutions to the software patents threat; some of their purveyors have attempted to enlist GNU projects, in effect bypassing real patent reform attempts, seeking to altogether abolish software patents (even after Alice/35 U.S.C. €§ 101; SCOTUS, 2014).

Issue a polite public statement just to explain why the FSF's founder was led to resign; many people would appreciate a frank explanation.

Tackle the issue of censorship, including (reportedly) censorship of mailing lists of LibrePlanet. Freedom of expression is also a form of freedom that must not be conflated with "trolling".

The founder is back, proprietary software vendors are furious

Recent Techrights' Posts

NVIDIA Turns Out to be Serial Cheater, Stock Plunges 33% in 5 Weeks: The "slop bros" have long relied on patience and blind faith
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXIX - We Didn't Start the Fire: It started in 2012
Photo Ops Are Liabilities: NVIDIA is not a "family business" and its CEO isn't some modest genius
NVIDIA’s Total Debt Trebled in Three Months!: Not the hallmark of a rich company unless its accounting is fraudulent
Adopting LLM Slop is Still Suicide: Suicide (in the literal sense) is also linked to adoption of chatbots
On Laundering Licences and Code: A "Second SCO" waiting to happen
The Cyber Show on Slop and the Ministry Of Truth in "Nineteen Eighty Four": "cultural erasure" by slop
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXVIII - Keeping Both Eyes on the Ball: One upside of these disputes is that they raise at least two very important issues concerning the law
Gemini Links 12/11/2026: Encryption is Easy, Human Emacs, and Legislation in Italy: Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 11, 2026: IRC logs for Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Links 11/11/2026: End of Novaya Gazeta (Assassinated by Putin) and North Koreans Too Poor to Buy Rice: Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/11/2026: The Tyrant’s Moat and Rants About Slop Causing Problems: Links for the day
Links 11/11/2026: Skydance Games and Boeing Hit By Layoffs, "Time Out for Timeouts": Links for the day
IRC is for Communities, Social Control Networks Are for Broligarchs (by Broligarchs): Unlike Reddit, it's not a company
JavaScript is the Problem, Not the Answer: Making the Web better is about making things better, not slapping more JavaScript 'walls' at it
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXVII - "Making a False Complaint to Police is a Crime." (British Cops Aren't American Mercenaries): "In the United Kingdom, the Foreign Enlistment Act 1819 and the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 make it unlawful for British subjects to join the armed forces of any state warring with another state at peace with Britain."
The Label 'Anti-AI': They make it sound like opposing plagiarism or cheating is an act of intolerance or hatred
Intolerance and Violence: Intolerance in the software world is not a new problem
António Campinos Hiding From Staff Amid Strikes, Won't Participate in Dialogue: They voted to continue striking until Christmas
Silent Layoffs at IBM (Rolling Layoffs), Now Curbs on H1B (Mostly Indian Applicants): Little will change at IBM except the gravity (global distribution) of its workforce will go east
Links 11/11/2026: Moving from Proton to Posteo and "Floating in Space": Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 10, 2026: IRC logs for Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXVI - Attempts to Kill Critics: "Epstein contacted Cambridge academics about research funding"
Gemini Links 10/11/2026: Running, Tektronix, and "Smallnet Information Services Zig Port": Links for the day
Corporations Don't Lose 2 Trillion Dollars in 'Value' Over a 'Dick Story', This is an Overvaluation and Belated Correction: Nvidia is down, down, down again
Links 10/11/2026: "50 Years of Project Censored" and NVIDIA's Collapse Continues: Links for the day
NVIDIA Down About 30% in 5 Weeks, When Does the Media Call It "Bubble" Rather Than Frame It as Sex Scandal?: they'll find a way to blame "China"
Surreal Times: NVIDIA's shares fell 27% in 5 weeks
Links 10/11/2026: "Jensen Huang Could Face $81 Billion Divorce Bill" and "Nvidia Shareholders sue Jensen Huang": Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 09, 2026: IRC logs for Monday, November 09, 2026
Gemini Links 10/11/2026: Open Problem in Computer Science Due to Bloat and "Queueing Nine Hours for an iPhone": Links for the day