A lot of is said about the freedom. I probably can’t say anything new. But, still, won’t like to keep silent.
“Free software” (open source, or whatever term you may prefer) is not an exact word. Software does not fight for freedom, does not care whether it is free. Its users do (should, at least). “Free software” means not that the software has a freedom, but that its users do. Among them, you and me.
And with every new day, more and more around us is software. Home appliances. Cars. Clothes (factories are increasingly software-controlled). Gas. Food… Whoever you are. whatever you do, you are using software, and will use more of it. One that gives you freedom, or one that denies it to you.
That is why we need free software. Not because it is cool and geeky. Because we need our freedom, and it is critically dependent on software.
And the software is important, but is not everything. We need free technologies, too. (If you ask why, compare PCs and Macs – the latter were for most of their history the far superior technology, but being a more closed technology than the PCs, were costly and became a niche player.) Technologies that are openly developed and accessible for everyone to use them into production, thus promoting both competition and cooperation, and quality and accessibility.
We need also open art. One that is available to everyone, and gives everyone opportunity to prove their artistic talent. One that reminds us that we are children not to the mud, but to the stars. One that helps us realise that we are not expendable units with expendable uniform desires and thoughts, but makes each one different, a distinct and valuable human being. One that teaches us not to rely blindly on the revelations of leaders, but to think with our own heads.
And many, many other things. Open philosophies, or maybe even confessions. Even more open science. Open education, open media (how about blogs?), open
But, most of all, we need probably open people. Ones that are not afraid of what they carry inside them, and of the others around. Ones that see that the good is stronger than the evil, that the humanity is wiser than the calculativeness, that we are the ones that create our own destiny, and get what we deserve – and why. Ones that want to be good, not because of some reward, but because this is the greatest possible reward by itself.
Blog-a-thon tag:
EFF15
Grigor