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.

In 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. ⬆