Free Software Timeline and Federation: When Free Software Advocacy/Support is a Monopoly Expansion Becomes Necessary

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2019-10-13 12:28:23 UTC
Modified: 2019-10-13 12:28:23 UTC

"With nonfree software, support is a monopoly, because only the developer has the source code and only the developer can make any change." --Richard Stallman in TN, India

"Proprietary software usually means a monopoly for support because only the developer has the source code..." --Richard Stallman in Zagreb, Croatia

Timeline

Summary: Support for Software Freedom -- like support for Free software (think Red Hat/IBM and systemd) -- should be decentralised and compartmentalised to make the movement stronger and adaptable

THE most recent events served to show that in order to make Free software more resilient and its support network a lot more robust (resistant to malicious/misguided dissenters, entryism etc.) we may need to federate advocacy of it.

"We thank people who have joined us in recent months as readers, IRC lurkers, contributors and so on."A contributor of ours is working on this timeline of Free (as in freedom, libre) software and it hopefully helps explain the history and how/why it all came about. Free software is a response or a reaction to particular events of significance. Yes, it was largely reactionary because prior to it (e.g. in the 1970s) sharing and passing around code had been the 'norm'.

We thank people who have joined us in recent months as readers, IRC lurkers, contributors and so on. We're currently working to better advance Software Freedom, not only by means of reporting and advocacy; those wishing to participate and are eager to help can contact us on bytesmedia@bytesmedia.co.uk (multiple recipients). ⬆

Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire): Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs": Links for the day
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow: There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble: Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven: 11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot: about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media: Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich: The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025: IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO: we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech": Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux FUD From Slopfarms, Blaming Linux for Microsoft Issues; Even WebProNews Has Become a Slopfarm (Googlebombing "Linux" With Slop Images and Fake/Plagiarised Text): The Web is really getting bad; it's also overwhelmed by fake material or plagiarised material, wherein the plagiarism gets disguised/hidden by LLM sausage factories
Links 03/06/2025: Tiananmen Square Massacre Censorship and Growing Military Activities Around Taiwan: Links for the day
Linux is Already Dominant (Android), Let's Make GNU/Linux Dominant in Desktops/Laptops as Well: "Dr. Stallman recently warned everybody about Microsoft."
The Loyalty to Microsoft and the Salaries From Microsoft (Funding SLAPPs Against Techrights and Tux Machines): Garrett always knows better. He knows everything best.
Windows Falls in Italy as GNU/Linux Jumps to 5%: Italy knows a thing or two about digital autonomy
Nigeria is All Android and Google: Windows down to almost nothing in Africa's largest population
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Second Wave) Not Limited to Redmond: "More layoffs at Microsoft as axe falls in Washington and California"
Gemini Links 03/06/2025: Forth System and "Common Lisp is a Dumpster": Links for the day
The Leaks Were Right: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in May, Then Another Wave in June: Just as we've been saying for over a month
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 02, 2025: IRC logs for Monday, June 02, 2025
Last Article From Australia's Sam Varghese Was a Year Ago and It Covered the Release of Julian Assange, Who Will Apparently Come Back as 'Politician': It'll soon be exactly 12 months
Hungary Seems Hungry for Linux: Windows down by a lot
Like in Europe, Bad News for Microsoft in US and Canada: If it loses those "regions", then what's left?
About 8 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in 2025 (in Less Than 5 Months), Now Vista 11 "Market Share" Decreases: Really bad news for shareholders of Microsoft
statCounter Sees Bing "Share" Falling Over 0.5% in One Month, Now Lower Than Before the ChatGPT/Bing Chat Hype: Bing has been part of the mass layoffs for quite some time
After Microsoft's Bankruptcy in Russia Android (Linux) Will Dominate Asia Completely: Windows probably peaked in "XP" or "2000"
Microsoft's Demise is a Global Phenomenon: mass layoffs justified using mindless buzzwords
All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux in EU and the UK, All-Time Lows for Microsoft: Combining ChromeOS and GNU/Linux, it adds up to and almost reaches 6%
India: Windows Falls to 50% in Desktops/Laptops and 8% Overall: laptops/desktops fell to 16% of the whole
statCounter: GNU/Linux Up to 4.7% "Market Share" This Month: 30,000 Microsoft jobs may be eliminated by year's end
Microsoft is in Trouble and Microsofters Know It: "I've been happy on Win 3.11 for years."
[Video] New Introduction to Richard Stallman's Contributions Including GNU Emacs, GNU/Linux, and Software Freedom: from the channel previously bullied for supporting RMS
Links 02/06/2025: South Korea to Vote, Russia Blitzed From Within: Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Political Leftovers, DRM, and Patents: Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Microsoft Spins Layoffs as "Slop", Frontier Settles Lawsuit: Links for the day
When You Publicly Boast About Wanting to Violently Attack People (Even Colleagues) Finding a Job Will Prove Difficult: there's a lesson to be learned here
The Web We Lost, the Information Lost Due to Microsoft's Attacks on Companies Like Yahoo! (Before the LLM Slop Frenzy): When it comes to news sites, what can we say?
Covering Corruption in Poland, Including a War on Science (Due to Bad Politicians): What we're about to show is that skilled and experienced scientists in Poland are besieged by bureaucrats
Gemini Links 02/06/2025: "Star Wars Day" and "Security Day": Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 01, 2025: IRC logs for Sunday, June 01, 2025

Free Software Timeline and Federation: When Free Software Advocacy/Support is a Monopoly Expansion Becomes Necessary

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