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Free Software Makes Life Easier, Not Harder

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Summary: Despite many fallacies and the lingering stigma, a life full of free (as in freedom) software is a much richer life, if not financially then in terms like personal contentment and personal freedom (including the freedom of expression)

AS pointed out in my personal site yesterday, last week marked 10 years at my current employer, a nighttime job that helps me pay the bills and has helped me keep this site 100% free of corporate influence. I'm lucky that my boss too is very opinionated and outspoken; when Microsoft contacted him to cause me trouble or when other mischievous attempts were made (like contacting clients) I was defended rather than berated.



"The reason for the title of this post is simple. When you're working among people who value software freedom you're more inclined/liberated to speak out, to express opinions openly."While I recognise that not every employer is like that (with "Cancel Culture" and all the key tactic is sometimes to shame or blackmail an employer to fire the employee, e.g. by doing damage to the employer in Social Control Media), I attribute a lot of that to my employer valuing both Free software and free speech. Those two things are closely connected; those who claim that they're not are typically those who go out of their way to impose "CoC" (or similar) to silence communities and 'weed out' opinionated people (not because they're sexist or racist or anything like that but because they put off corporate sponsors). Obstacles that deter corruption are exactly the sorts of obstacles the Free software community needs.

The reason for the title of this post is simple. When you're working among people who value software freedom you're more inclined/liberated to speak out, to express opinions openly. This site has nothing to do with my full-time (nighttime) job; the job just helps pay my bills and since I work from home it still leaves me with plenty of time for Techrights. I make full use of all my time and paying for food/roof is just part of that. At least I don't use proprietary software.

Easy StreetIn terms of disclosure, which I did before, our clients at work are mostly public sector (e.g. NHS, London Town Hall) and even some political activism sites. I've heard quite a few stories about Microsoft 'UK' over the years (how it undermined public sector contracts in the UK) and I'm well aware of why they wish to spy on users of Free software. They're truly a troublesome cult, not a firm per se.

In my personal experience, those who pursue a career in Free software and then go working for companies that focus on Free software (not monopolies like Google, which only pretend to care for software freedom by basically exploiting "Open Source" and barely giving anything back) will enjoy a life of freedom. It might not pay as much, but freedom has no price on it. It's a condition, not a product. Speaking of Google, yesterday Matthew Garrett told us (in IRC) that he had left Google. Friday was his last day. We've congratulated him on this decision (assuming it was his). Maybe instead of publicly bashing those who antagonise monopolies he can finally do some real activism, not a distraction from real and meaningful activism.

Recent Techrights' Posts

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
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 of says can be trusted
 
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
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Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
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
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October