Bonum Certa Men Certa

In a World Where Free Software Is Considered Standard Remote Work Will Become the Norm

Also, there are benefits to the environment. Why is it called "remote work" anyway? It's not remote! You're home!

What they want us to think work at the office looks like and... what clients think remote work looks like



Summary: The workplace will be better off when we all quit the charade of wealth and breadth; companies that force all employees to work in a single place (even for jobs that don't strictly require it) are stuck in the past, milking a bygone era

I very rarely write about my professional and personal life because some people try to contact my boss, hoping to cause me trouble (since 2005), and things I write about my personal life are likely to be misframed and mischaracterised to smear me, respectively. So I generally don't say much about my daily routines here (I opened up a bit in 2017 in this interview). I try to focus on the issues, leaving little room for personal attacks.



"I try to focus on the issues, leaving little room for personal attacks."The same is true for my wife, who rarely divulges personal details online; we don't use Facebook or anything like it and I last updated LinkedIn with work-related information some time back in 2006 (when a colleague convinced me to create an account there).

So anyway, don't expect me to open up too much. It's bad enough that some British university decided to intimidate someone who wanted to participate in Techrights by basically defaming me, based on distortion of things from 15 years ago. All I will say is that my remote work history is very long. In 2000 or 2001 I started working in the dormitories, offering technical support for computers (I had acquired experience as a teenager) and I could do so within the Halls of Residence without having some truly central office. In 2007 when I stopped much of my practical Ph.D. work (including thesis) I started working more and more from home. In 2010 I was allowed to work as a postdoc as a mostly but not entirely remote worker (with occasional visits to the department, either once a week or several times a year). That went on until 2012 and in 2011 I already started working from home, offering Free software support services -- again having to only visit the company's office a few times a year. In recent years I barely even visit the office anymore. I last went there a year ago (signing some papers) and this was probably the only time in about 3 years. I know that remote work is very much possible. I've done it in one form or another for nearly 2 decades.

"Proprietary software companies have long used "happy faces" marketing and "windmills" BS in brochure about their Clown Computing or whatever buzzword clueless, nontechnical decision-making suits happen to fancy that month/year, based on magazines composed and collated by other clueless, nontechnical publishers."One thing that has always been clear to me is that clients' perception of the workforce (are they supervised and are they trained?) played a big role in that old assumption that people need to come inward and produce outward from glass-and-metal cages which are neither welcoming nor respectful of basic human dignity. People over your shoulder causing additional stress won't improve productivity, especially in jobs that require concentration and minimal interruption/interference (such as debugging of code).

Proprietary software companies have long used "happy faces" marketing and "windmills" BS in brochure about their Clown Computing or whatever buzzword clueless, nontechnical decision-making suits happen to fancy that month/year, based on magazines composed and collated by other clueless, nontechnical publishers.

I say, to hell with those buzzwords and hype waves; enough with your stupid marketing, which is only a drain on companies' budget (not to mention lawyers and sometimes even accountants). For companies to become and remain competitive they need to be lean and not mean. Respect workers, don't bully them (neither physically nor mentally; the two things are related because diet, health and mood are closely connected). Focus on technical work; it is the heart and soul of technical companies, which is what most if not all Free software firms are. Proprietary software has long relied on lies, aggressive marketing, sometimes even bribery (there are special teams if not departments dedicated to just that).

"I still believe that society as well as workplaces will become more humane when Free software is the de facto standard everywhere; it's not only about Freedom (libre) of code but also the Freedom of workers."Now that many people are either forced to work from home or stay home (unemployed) the subject is worth bringing up. We need to leave behind us the nonsensical burden which not only harms the environment but also manifests itself in the form of telemarketing, overstressed workers, and workers who contract flu or pneumonia while commuting or eating next to a colleague they neither like nor really need to interact with. I'm not an introvert. I'm not extrovert either. But I am very practical and I know that a 4-hour trip to the office is rarely necessary, not to mention the carbon footprint.

I still believe that society as well as workplaces will become more humane when Free software is the de facto standard everywhere; it's not only about Freedom (libre) of code but also the Freedom of workers. There's definitely a connection between those things. All the code I've ever worked on is Free software (it's against my principles to keep code secret) and each time I worked from 9 to 5 (not much in my adult life, unlike teenage years) I got a taste of what most people are compelled to go through on a daily basis. This is about as sustainable for personal health as it is for the economy itself. The economy isn't doing too well, is it? Well, maybe it's time to rethink how we work. Just my 50 pence...

"Proprietary software types like to assess people's value based on their perceived wealth, i.e. what kind of things they've bought and collected -- in the same way many assess the quality or value of a company based on the looks of its office, the furnishing, where it is based (the more expensive, the better?) and so on, spurring a culture of over-consumption and over-spending."Can I take the train journey to the office with 50 pence? The last time I purchased tickets to travel the rail fare was literally twice that of a flight. Time for Richard Branson and the likes of him to declare bankruptcy and time for public transport too... to be rethought. I last owned a car almost 2 decades ago. I can cycle to most places and save myself maintenance headaches (and fees) associated with car ownership. But that perhaps is a topic for another day and a different post. Yes, people who can drive and choose not to own a car aren't inferior. Proprietary software types like to assess people's value based on their perceived wealth, i.e. what kind of things they've bought and collected -- in the same way many assess the quality or value of a company based on the looks of its office, the furnishing, where it is based (the more expensive, the better?) and so on, spurring a culture of over-consumption and over-spending.

"Do you have a lawyer?"

"Oh, glad you asked! We have a whole in-house department of them!"

Now, how about that for corporate productivity?

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Advocacy of Software Freedom Changed, LUGs Became Less Relevant
The way we see it, support groups like LUGs sort of outlived their usefulness when it became easier to install GNU/Linux
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims or says can be trusted
Compromised by NVIDIA Proprietary Library
Meanwhile in Boston there are "[r]oundtable talk with FSF volunteers (both in-person and online)"
How Software Patents Were Viewed or Their General Status Changed Over Time
A rough summary
 
Watch the FSF Party Live (via Livestream)
It's in WebM format, which is widely supported by now
When Microsoft "Integrates" Something With "AI" It Means It's Losing Money and Is Generally Hopeless
how did Bing fare after 36 months of LLM slop being hyped up as "replacement" for search?
Most Certificates Don't Improve Security, They Mostly Increase Downtime (for No Good Reason)
The 'Gemini sites' (capsules) are a growing force
The statCounter Site Has Data Integrity Problems
Maybe we'll get back to statCounter when its data becomes more "stable" again
10 Ways to Combat Software Patents
software patents are loathed also by proprietary software developers
"Just a Little Bit of Meat..."
Free software "absolutism" is not a radical stance, more so if the only "radical" belief the user possesses is that he or she must be in control of his or her software, and by extension his or her computer
Red Hat is Ignoring the Free Software Community, It's a "Fortune 1000" Vendor
Red Hat's blog also participates a lot in promoting of Wall Street's latest pump-and-dump "AI" scheme
Free Software Foundation Party Has Begun
We shall be focusing a lot on software patents today
Former Head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Lina Khan Knows Whatever Microsoft Touches Will Die
Just like Skype (as recently as months ago) [...] When Microsoft grabs things, or when it buys things, it almost never ends well
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About LibreOffice in Austria and Wine 10.16
very short
Links 04/10/2025: "attempted Coup" Noted in Facebook, Russia Kills Journalists via Drones
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Anesthesia and Baudpunk
Links for the day
Links 04/10/2025: "Privacy Harm Is Harm", Criticism Outlawed in US
Links for the day
Garmin Uses Linux for Some of the Garmin Products, Now It's Sued by Strava Using Software Patents
Software patents should never have been granted in the first place
Richard Stallman Will Give a Talk in Sweden in 6 Days
Dr. Stallman, despite his battle with cancer is still alive and mentally sharp
FSF Turns 40
We'll be focusing on patent-related topics this weekend
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 03, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 03, 2025
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Distro Hopping and "Part Time"
Links for the day
We Are Turning 19 in One Month, FSF Turns 40 in 3 Hours (CET)
For our anniversary next month we still have no concrete plans
Patent Docs (or PatentDocs) Learned the Wrong Lessons From the Death of TypePad
Had they gone ahead with an SSG, they'd become a lot more future-proof
USPTO Patent Bubble Already Imploding, After Decades of Artificial Inflation, Entire Offices Close for Good
we can deduce that financial pressures (lack of "demand" for monopolies) play a role
TikTok is Not Harmless (Being CheeTok in the US Will Advance Orange Agenda)
Social control media isn't "fun and games"; it's a digital weapon that lets hostile groups or nations infiltrate others, then turn them against themselves
Andy Farnell and Helen Plews Explain What "Modern" Tech Does to Old People
Imposing terrible tech "religion" on people is not helping them
Tomorrow the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 and Its Web Site is Still Slow Due to DDoS by LLM Slop Bots
For an advocacy group, uptime is important (for its message to remain accessible)
Slopwatch: Google News as a Firehose of LLM Slop About "Linux"
Google News is really bad
Datamation, Where I Used to Publish Articles, Appears to Have Been Sold to TechnologyAdvice Only to Become a Slopfarm
I'd prefer to not associate with that site anymore
Links 03/10/2025: "NPR’s Economics Lessons Come With Neoliberal Spin" and Canada Post at Risk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/10/2025: Panic Attacks and Food Adulteration
Links for the day
Links 03/10/2025: Lawyers Caught Using LLM Slop Explain Why They Did It, LibreSSL 4.1.1 and 4.0.1 Released
Links for the day
FSF Board Grew 50% Since Last Year, Has New President, Turns 40 in Two Days
It's a good move for the FSF and - by extension - for software freedom
Links 03/10/2025: Conflicts, Death of TypePad, and TikTok/CheeTok Gives a Boost to Far Right Groups in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 02, 2025
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day