04.05.21
Gemini version available ♊︎Software Freedom Matters More Than Ever and We Need to Grasp the Misconceptions About It
Summary: A long ramble about the situation we’re currently in and why the fight for Software Freedom must go on; we’re winning on many fronts (GNU/Linux already dominates a lot of sectors), losing on some, and that’s why software monopolies (current and past digital/tech "masters") are increasingly frightened and resort to irrational and self-harming attacks; they’re failing to imprison every citizen on this planet (too many dissenters and objectors), collectively rendering us digital “slaves” (a term they'd rather ban so as to limit the conversation's remit)
THE Software Freedom Movement or the Free Software Movement (capitalised) will soon turn 40, i.e. older than me. The term “Software Freedom Movement” helps emphasise that it’s about freedom, not price (otherwise ambiguous in the English language). It was created or at least pioneered/defined by an MIT scientist who was about 30 at the time. He’ll turn 70 just over a year from now. He’s under attack by a bunch of bullies backed by a corporate mob and defamatory corporate media (owned by those same corporations or partly funded by them).
“People are easily being carried away by hype and buzzwords (“clown computing”, “smart” etc.) and some are easily bamboozled or even incited against those who speak about the threats.”In this video I attempt to explain some recent events, how I personally got introduced to the Software Freedom Movement (or Free Software Movement, sometimes abbreviated FSM, led by the FSF). To examine the issues we’re nowadays dealing with I turn to the “Critic’s Free Software Dictionary” of figosdev, who wrote many articles for us.
People are easily being carried away by hype and buzzwords (“clown computing”, “smart” etc.) and some are easily bamboozled or even incited against those who speak about the threats. The real threat isn’t that “guy with a beard” but those who vilify him. As Dave Lane put it recently: “the real existential threat to Free Software isn’t the make-up of the FSF governance board. It’s US multinational corporations funding legal reports encouraging companies to shun Copyleft licensed software, calling it “too risky” for business use. (of course, if you want to see a real legal minefield, take a gander at any proprietary EULA… if you can find one – they tend to be completely hidden). Also: the shade thrown by Github and MSFT on Copyleft at every opportunity.”
We’ve always been under attack by Microsoft (the video mentions the Halloween Documents), but those attacks are becoming more visible in recent years, even if they disguise the attacks with words like "love". █
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