136 lines
6.3 KiB
Org Mode
136 lines
6.3 KiB
Org Mode
#+title: Free software
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#+summary: An explanation of the necessity of free software
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#+startup: showall
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#+license: wtfpl
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* Free software
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This is a [[http://python.org/][Python 3]] computer program --- a piece of software:
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#+BEGIN_SRC python
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inp = input()
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print(inp.lower())
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#+END_SRC
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Or at least it's a very small part of one. It reads text input from a user,
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transforms the text to lowercase, and prints the transformed text. It is very
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simple. Larger programs are often far less simple, as they may contain
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implementations of complex algorithms or involve human interaction.
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[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA][RSA]] and [[http://www.openssl.org/][OpenSSL]] are examples of this, RSA being an algorithm which requires
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several subalgorithms to work, and OpenSSL being the large implementation of
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RSA (among other things, but let's keep it simple) which contains way over
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100,000 lines of code. For such a computer program to be run, it will most
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often have to be compiled.
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/Compilation/ is a process which translates human-readable source code --- like
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the two Python lines earlier --- into a computer-readable format. When a
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program has been compiled, computers can understand it, and it can be run and
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used by users. The reason why programmers do not program in the
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computer-readable format from the beginning is that it is almost impossible and
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very impractical; humans need one or more levels of abstraction to be able to
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transform ideas into runnable, useful software --- humans need programming
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languages.
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There are two things that make a lot of sense when talking about computer
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programs: 1) if a program is installed on your computer, you should be able to
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run it (why else have it?), and 2) if a friend (or someone else) would like to
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use a program that you have, you should be able to share it to your friend,
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i.e. copy it and give the friend the copy.
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People who are unfamiliar with computers in general, and digital data in
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particular, might have trouble understanding that any data you see on a
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computer monitor or on an optical disc or on something else is nothing but
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bytes, be it images, videos, websites, text, programs, e-mails, anything. A
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byte x&var with a value n&var is no different than a byte y&var with the same
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value n&var, even if it is stored in a different location. Any byte can be
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cloned, copied, and only the amount of storage space available limits how many
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times this copying can occur.
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One must also be able to study a program, modify it to fit one's needs, and
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redistribute copies of one's changes. There are several reasons for this; first
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of all, a program must not be able to hide from you how it works and what it
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does. You --- or a hired programmer --- must be able to look through the source
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code and learn from it, so that knowledge about implementations of algorithms
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and structuring of code segments can be spread. Computers have become
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incredibly important on Earth, and it's just not good enough if a computer user
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who wishes to learn more about software and how it works cannot study
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the programs on their computer and in that way improve their computer
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literacy.
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Since machine code does not contain the original code and comments, source code
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availability is a precondition for the studying and modification of a program.
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Second, if a program does not work properly, you can only fix it if you're
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allowed to do so and have the source code.
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Third, it is impractical to constantly reinvent the wheel, which is what
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programmers who do not use software that allows sharing and modification tend
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to do.
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Fourth, if a program cannot be studied, and if that program contains code for
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reading from and writing to files in special formats --- e.g. the Microsoft
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Word format --- people are forced to use that program if they have a file in
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such a format (yes, OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice have good support for such
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non-free formats, but not full support).
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Fifth, if a program cannot be studied, you cannot be certain of its
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intentions. Since you do not know what the program does (in details), you do
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not know if it does anything harmful --- if it tracks you, or if it reads your
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documents without your permission.
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Sixth, if a non-free program is abandoned by its developers, it will never
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become better, and users of it might not be able to keep running it, because no
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one can fix or improve it.
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And so on.
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*Free software* is the type of software that encompasses these freedoms; it
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allows you to be in control of your computing, instead of others taking control
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of it. Proprietary software, or non-free software, is the opposite of free
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software. Many programs and systems are proprietary, including (but not at all
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limited to) Microsoft Windows, Apple iPhone, Amazon Kindle, etc. Well-known
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/free/ software includes Firefox, Inkscape, GIMP, and many others.
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Today it often seems commonly accepted that software development and usage
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follows a model like this:
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#&block
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Someone (a corporation, an individual, an organization, could be anyone)
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develops a program --> the creator allows people to use the program
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--> a user wants to share the program with a friend, but the user knows that it
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is wrong, because that's what the creator said --> the user does nothing, and:
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The user needs a new feature added to the program --> the user asks the creator
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to add the feature, because the user knows that only the creator may modify the
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program, even if it runs on the user's computer and not the creator's --> the
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creator answers --> nothing happens
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#&
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It makes sense that you should be allowed to modify a program that runs on your
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computer, or get someone to do it for you. It makes no sense that an entity
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x&var should have the power to control a user just because that user runs a
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program created by x&var. Programs should /not/ have owners, even if that's
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what some have been mislead to believe.
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All of this leaves us with these four condensed freedoms:[fn:freeswdef]
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#&block
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/The freedom to/:
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+ run the program
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+ study and modify the program
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+ share the program (redistribute copies)
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+ share your modified program
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#&
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** External links
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Continue your reading here:
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+ [[http://gnu.org/][GNU's Not Unix]]
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+ The [[http://fsf.org/][Free Software Foundation]]
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+ [[http://trisquel.info][Trisquel, a free operating system]]
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+ [[http://debian.org/][Debian]]
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+ [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft][Copyleft]] on Wikipedia
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[fn:freeswdef] GNU.org. /The Free Software Definition/,
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[[http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html]]
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