[Dee-Ann LeBlanc mused recently here at LinuxWorld.com on the vexed question of whether in the Linux community we are letting politics have too much sway over and above the technology. Here are Richard Stallman's thoughts on that same issue, just received...far from sharing this worry, on the contrary he is concerned that a narrow focus on technological developments "might distract our best activists from doing their best work..." ]
"Dear editors of LinuxWorld,
When I read Ms LeBlanc's surprised reaction to the idea that "Linux" is about politics - initially negative, followed by an acknowledgment that it may have become so - I was struck above all by the irony. This operating system was launched to be about politics, starting with its announcement 20 years ago this month:
Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a complete Unix-compatible software system called GNU (for Gnu's Not Unix)... I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must share it with other people who like it... So that I can continue to use computers without violating my principles, I have decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that I will be able to get along without any software that is not free.
If the idea that the GNU/Linux operating system is about politics comes as a surprise to many of its users today, this is because they have forgotten its origin. The practice of calling the entire system "Linux" has led many to suppose it was started by Linus Torvalds in 1991. (Torvalds developed a kernel which, once freed in 1992, filled the last gap in the nearly complete GNU operating system.) They often say that the GNU project developed "tools," diminishing its real aim.
The only idea of the GNU/Linux system's purpose that they have encountered is Torvalds' self-described "apolitical" vision, the vision of the Open Source Movement, so many of them make this vision their inspiration. Some go so far as to say that technology should not be sullied by non-technical concerns - espousing an idea of "pure technology" that explicitly rejects the lesson, so painfully learned from World War II, that engineers have a duty to consider how their work may affect society.
But you cannot keep your freedom by making technical advance your only goal. In 1983, we computer users had lost our freedom to cooperate: the only way you could buy a modern computer and run it was to sign a nondisclosure agreement, promising not to share with your friends, you could not tell what the program really did, and you could change it only by patching the binary. Regaining this freedom required 20 years of persistent effort, but we can lose it again much more quickly if we fail to defend it.
The Free Software Movement teaches computer users to value freedom, so they will defend it. Recognizing the value of freedom yourself is the first step in helping to do this.
Sincerely Richard Stallman Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project"
About Richard Stallman Richard Stallman is the founder of the Gnu Project, launched in 1984 to develop the free operating system GNU (an acronym for "GNU's Not Unix"), and thereby give computer users the freedom that most of them have lost. GNU is free software: everyone is free to copy it and redistribute it, as well as to make changes either large or small. He is the principal or initial author of GNU Emacs, the GNU C Compiler, the GNU Debugger GDB and parts of other packages. He is also president of the Free Software Foundation (FSF).
Eduardo "Tião" Barbosa
wrote: I believe Mr.
Handley´s point of view
is very interesting. The
movement is not "simply"
about politics and the
ideal of freedom that
started it all. The
political issue is a
contitutive part of the
movement, as much as the
technological "advances"
in software development
are the horse-power that
keeps us on our feet,
strugling with
proprietary software
users/developers about
our side of the tide.
I believe the point here
is not to forget our
political
responsabilities. The
Free Software movement
makes a statement to the
world, that we cannot
deny. And we say "let
code be free!", because
we understand, by living
within this major
industrial revolution,
that the work we do
CANNOT be taken away or
be restricted. It must
return to were it came
from, your local
community, the gnu/linux
commun...
Daniel C. Handley wrote:
I mistakenly placed all
of the free software
movement under the "Open
Source" banner, and for
that I apologize. But
what I was getting at is
that the movement,
whatever the title, has
moved beyond simply being
"political". There are
those who still maintain
that ideal, and that's
wonderful. But to
simplify GNU/Linux in
such a manner is faulty.
That was the mentality
that started it all, but
it is not, by any means,
the only motive that
sustains the movement.
The Free Software
movement is what began
the push to return to
shared code, and
marvellously so. But
it's the Open Sourcers
that have become the
"flagship" (for lack of
better term) which is
publically driving it. I
share the belief that
freedom is the ideal we
should all live by, but
that ideal is not what
prompts an organization
li...
Daniel C. Handley wrote:
I mistakenly placed all
of the free software
movement under the "Open
Source" banner, and for
that I apologize. But
what I was getting at is
that the movement,
whatever the title, has
moved beyond simply being
"political". There are
those who still maintain
that ideal, and that's
wonderful. But to
simplify GNU/Linux in
such a manner is faulty.
That was the mentality
that started it all, but
it is not, by any means,
the only motive that
sustains the movement.
The Free Software
movement is what began
the push to return to
shared code, and
marvellously so. But
it's the Open Sourcers
that have become the
"flagship" (for lack of
better term) which is
publically driving it. I
share the belief that
freedom is the ideal we
should all live by, but
that ideal is not what
prompts an organization
li...
J.B. Nicholson-Owens
wrote: Handley
misattributes the
community to the wrong
movement. The community
we're a part of is the
free software community
because it was started by
RMS to pursue software
freedom. The open source
movement exists within
the free software
community and the open
source movement didn't
start for over a decade
after the community had
been built. Thus, it
would not be fair or
reasonable to give the
open source movement
credit for the work in
building our community.
Also, it's not "free
source" advocates, it's
free software advocates.
RMS, unsurprisingly,
mentions the name a
number of times in his
essay.
The license that is the
most widely used came
from the Free Software
Foundation--the GNU
General Public License
(or GPL). It was in use
well before the open
source movement came to
be. So, le...
Daniel C. Handley wrote:
I am glad to see Mr.
Stallman's much-needed
response. But there is
something he seems to
overlook. To "free
source" advocates, it is
very political, in a
moral and ethical sense.
But there are many views
about shared source. My
view is that open source
is more economically
viable in the long run.
No matter how one feels,
the greatest thing about
open source is not a
matter of one view over
another. We all see
things differently. In
the open source
community, we can all
agree to disagree, and
still accomplish
miraculous things. That
diversity is our greatest
advantage.
I'm glad to see those
like Richard Stallman
fighting for free speech
and free technology. Mr.
Stallman is right. But
so are Linus Torvalds,
Eric Raymond, IBM, HP,
and all other open
sourcers. Each has his
or her own moti...
V. Aldridge wrote:
Freedom is so easily
given up every day.
Unfortunatly, most of us
simply try and drag
ourselves through the day
and the idea of politics
and loss of freedom
rarely grace our thoughts
except in a small passing
way. Simple truths are
what we can deal with and
simple truths are what we
are willing to accept.
Freedom requires you to
be engaged in the world
and to perceive the
desires of some few to
mislead us and trouble
our thoughts with lies
and half truths so that
we surrender those
treasured freedoms and be
controlled for their
sakes. As an MCSE I
understand the MS
approach but I also
understand what GNU/Linux
means to the world as a
whole. It will change
society, and freedom of
the heart and the mind is
never ever a bad thing.
Through those things are
found peace, not through
absolute control.
Mr....
Jonny L Gent P.E. wrote:
Thank you Richard for the
consistent message. It
never waviers and is
right on the mark. I
enjoy the benefits and
security of many peoples
work and say thank you
everyday.
Thank you and I will
continue to support Free
software and GNU/Linux.
W. Grimm wrote: I think
Mr. Stallman is correct;
we had better get
political if we are not
already, because there
are people out there who
will take away our
freedoms and our software
if we do not. The
"richest man in the
world" wants to force you
to run his software, and
no other, on your
computers.
I also believe that if
the US is to continue to
play a major role in the
worldwide computing
industry, that we should
embrace Open Source- this
is where the future lies.
The world is not going
to accept proprietary
products like MS Windows
for much longer.....
A Smith wrote: There's
been a lot of speculation
about SCO's motivation
for their war on Linux.
GROKLAW appears to have
discovered the definitive
documents from way back
in February (before SCO
filed suit against IBM).
In short, it all started
about shared libraries,
the idea was to combine
UNIX/Linux and possibly
wipe out all SCO's
competitors, to put SCO
on top of the food-chain
over Red Hat and other
Linux companies, and to
force IBM to settle
because of SCO's claimed
ability to revoke IBM's
AIX license.
For full details, read
http://www.groklaw.com/
Terrell Prude', Jr.
wrote: Actually, Stallman
says that "Free Software"
is political, not "Open
Source." The "Open
Source" movement came
about as an effort to
*remove* talk of
freedom--a political
subject--from the
conversation and speak
pretty much only of
technical benefits to
business. The Open
Source folks, like Perens
and Raymond, are right in
that there are certainly
benefits to business on
merely technical merits
(witness the Internet and
what powers it). I also
thank those two for their
work in promoting Free
Software ("Open Source"
is billed as a marketing
arm for Free Software).
However, it is the Free
Software movement that
made so prevalent today
the mindset of people
collaborating
together--by example. It
is the Free Software
movement's GNU GPL that
is now our strongest
buttress against the
likes of...
Alex wrote: People say
"everyone should live
under a democracy". A
democracy is more and
more becoming about
individuals `human
rights', our personal
freedoms.
Free/libre software
including Linux is for
the people that have made
it happen about having
tools with which they are
free to do what they wish
in the ways described in
the Free Software
Foundations software
freedoms. The ability to
do such is a right.
I think these days unlike
at Stallmans outset
freedoms are dissolved
gently rather than cut
off. So people grow
accustomed to their
absence and don't notice
and don't realise what
they have lost. So we
live in a ever more cosy
and safe world, that
would be as boring as
hell but for tv
Randall Poznan wrote:
Richard Stallman thanks
for what you do! This
work is appreciated, and
greatly important.
As long as large
companies want
monopolistic control of
computing, politics will
come into play. Keep
fighting for the right to
build, use, and
distribute open src.
George X wrote: Being
involved in GNU/Linux for
just one month i am sure
it is politics. It is
made with the purpose to
spread knowledge and not
to restrict it. But i
don't think forgetting
this is a matter of
memory, it's mainly the
way people "consume"
products including
software, without caring
for the side effects of
the use of these
products.
I took the advice of a
friend of mine and
steered clear of the
'normal' movie theaters
and went a little out of
the way to go to a DLP
movie theater. The
experience of comparing a
regular movie theater to
a DLP movie theater is
like comparing standard
def analog TV with a
1080i HDTV si
From Application
Virtualization to Xen, a
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NYC June 23-24, 2008 by
the world-class speaker
faculty at the 3rd
International
Virtualization Conference
& Expo being held by
SYS-CON Events in The
Roosevelt Hotel, in
midtown
Verizon Wireless is
snubbing Google's
Linux-based Android
initiative to go with the
LiMo Foundation's mobile
Linux spec for its next
wave of mobile phones
expected next year. Along
with Verizon, Mozilla
signed up - giving the
consortium its first
major open source ISV -
and a key one f
Adaptec unveiled a new
family of entry-level
Unified Serial RAID
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controllers, built on the
same Adaptec dual core
RAID-on-Chip (ROC)
architecture used in its
successful Series 5 RAID
controllers, provide
significant performance
enhancement
Sun's mule train has
finally pulled into
Indiana after three years
on the road. Indiana is
the Linux-friendly
Fedora-like OpenSolaris
project meant to move the
Solaris-shy Linux
community off Linux and
on to Solaris tempted by
Solaris widgetry like the
highly scalable,
rollback-easy, 1
Curl announced it has
released the availability
of an Ubuntu Installer
for the Curl Rich
Internet Application
(RIA) platform. Curl is a
Rich Internet Application
platform that competes
with Adobe AIR/Flex,
Silverlight, and Ajax.
Curl has been shipping
with Linux support for
RedHat 9, S
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I took the advice of a
friend of mine and
steered clear of the
'normal' movie theaters
and went a little out of
the way to go to a DLP
movie theater. The
experience of comparing a
regular movie theater to
a DLP movie theater is
like comparing standard
def analog TV with a
1080i HDTV si
From Application
Virtualization to Xen, a
round-up of the
virtualization themes &
topics being discussed in
NYC June 23-24, 2008 by
the world-class speaker
faculty at the 3rd
International
Virtualization Conference
& Expo being held by
SYS-CON Events in The
Roosevelt Hotel, in
midtown 
Verizon Wireless is
snubbing Google's
Linux-based Android
initiative to go with the
LiMo Foundation's mobile
Linux spec for its next
wave of mobile phones
expected next year. Along
with Verizon, Mozilla
signed up - giving the
consortium its first
major open source ISV -
and a key one f
Sun's mule train has
finally pulled into
Indiana after three years
on the road. Indiana is
the Linux-friendly
Fedora-like OpenSolaris
project meant to move the
Solaris-shy Linux
community off Linux and
on to Solaris tempted by
Solaris widgetry like the
highly scalable,
rollback-easy, 1
