Response to Ryo Suwito Regarding the Four Freedoms
Earlier today Ryo Suwito published an article [1] that contends "Freedoms 0-1 make perfect sense. They're about user autonomy - 'I bought this software, let me understand and modify MY copy.'"
"Freedoms 2-3 are economically delusional," Suwito said. "Here's why."
Suwito seems to be using proprietary software for coding [2]. That's kind of a giveaway. The projects are controlled by Microsoft and at least one uses Microsoft's TypeScript.
Here's a rebuttal of key points raised by Suwito: (a lot of that boils down to an flawed or subjective economic vision)
It goes on and on.
There are many other weakly-made arguments, loaded statements, and misframings.
Free software is for people who want to control their computing and - by extension - their life. Every life ends at some point; the point of life isn't to make more money. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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The Economic Reality Behind Stallman's Four Freedoms: Why Open Source Became Corporate Exploitation
Stallman's philosophy works beautifully for foundations and libraries - the building blocks that everyone needs. But for complete applications, freedoms 2-3 create an impossible economic situation where the people who want your source code are the least likely to pay for your service.
- The code is here. There is very little of it.
