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free_software.md
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**By 2024 free software is dead** -- yes, FSF and some free software "activists" are still around, but they don't bear any significance, just like the hippies lost any significance after 1960s etc. Corruption, politics and [free market](capitalism.md) have finally killed the movement, [open $ource](open_source.md) prevailed and it is now redefining even the basic pillars of the four freedoms (partial openness or just source availability is now practically synonymous with "open source"), probably sealing the fate of technology, free software seems to have only postponed [capitalist disaster](capitalist_singularity.md) by a few decades, which is still a great feat. { It's been pointed out to me that even some project that call themselves "free" or "libre", such as "Libre"Boot, are in fact breaking the rules of freedom now, for example by including proprietary blobs. ~drummyfish }
**By 2024 free software is dead** -- yes, [FSF](fsf.md) and a few other software "activists" are still around, but they don't bear any significance anymore, the free software movement disappeared just like hippies disappeared with 1960s. FSF has become just an email spamming organization supporting lesbian [rights](rights_culture.md) on the Internet, and those who truly believe in free software form a community that by its size is comparable to such insignificantly small groups as [suckless](suckless.md) for example. Everything is now "[open $ource](open_source.md)", which only means one thing: it is hosted on [GitHub](github.md), and doesn't at all imply free code, available code, non-malicious features or even perhaps such a laughable thing as pursuit of freedom. Corruption, politics and [free market](capitalism.md) have finally killed the free software movement, [open $ource](open_source.md) prevailed exactly as it was planned by capitalists at the meeting in 1998, and it has now redefined even the basic pillars of the four freedoms (partial openness, [fair use](fair_use.md) or just source availability is now practically synonymous with "open source") -- just like for example "thou shalt not kill" was removed from Christianity because it wasn't convenient for the overlords -- and by this the fate of technology is sealed, free software seems to have only postponed the [capitalist disaster](capitalist_singularity.md) by a few decades, which is still a remarkable feat. { It's been pointed out to me that even some project that call themselves "free" or "libre", such as "Libre"Boot, are in fact breaking the rules of freedom now, for example by including proprietary blobs. ~drummyfish }
## "Free" Software Alternatives, Pseudo Free Environments AKA What Freedom Really Is
**The "free software alternatives" question** is one that's constantly being discussed under [capitalism](capitalism.md): [corporations](corporation.md) try to forcefully keep users enslaved by proprietary software environments while free software proponents and users themselves want to free the users with "alternatives" made as free software. A very common mistake for a free software newcomer to make is to try to **"drop-in replace proprietary software with free software"**; a user used to proprietary software and its ways just wants the programs he's used to, just "without ads and subscriptions etc.". This doesn't work, or only to an extremely limited scale, because the whole proprietary world is made and DESIGNED from the ground up to allow user exploitation as much as possible, with e.g. building such thing like [consumerism](consumerism.md) right into the design of visual elements of the software etc., i.e. proprietary vs free software is not just about a legal [license](license.md), but whole philosophy of technology, asking things such as [why are we so obsessed over "updates"](update_culture.md) or [why are we freaking out about privacy](privacy.md). Trying to drop-in replace proprietary technology with 1 to 1 looking free software is like trying to replace whole capitalism with an "environment friendly capitalism" in which everything works the same except we have cars made of wood and skyscrapers made of recycled paper -- indeed, one sees that to get rid of the destructive nature of capitalism we really have to replace capitalism as such with all its basic concepts with something fundamentally different; and the situation is same with proprietary software.
**The "free software alternatives" question** is one that comes up often under [capitalism](capitalism.md): [corporations](corporation.md) try to forcefully keep users enslaved by proprietary environments while free software proponents and users themselves want to free the users with "alternatives" made as free software. A very common mistake for a free software newcomer to make is to try to **"drop-in replace proprietary software with free software"**; a user used to proprietary software and its ways just wants the programs he's used to, just "gratis, without ads and subscriptions etc.". This doesn't work, or only to a very small degree, because the whole proprietary world is made and DESIGNED from the ground up to allow user exploitation as much as possible, e.g. with embedding such thing like [consumerism](consumerism.md) right into the design of visual elements of the software etc., i.e. proprietary vs free software is not just about a legal [license](license.md), but whole philosophy of technology, asking things such as [why are we so obsessed over "updates"](update_culture.md), why do we aim for [maximalism](maximalism.md) or [why are we freaking out about privacy](privacy.md). Trying to drop-in replace proprietary technology with 1 to 1 looking free software is like trying to replace whole capitalism with an "environment friendly capitalism" in which everything works the same except we have cars made of wood and skyscrapers made of recycled paper -- indeed, one sees that to get rid of the destructive nature of capitalism we really have to replace capitalism as such with all its basic concepts with something fundamentally different; and the situation is same with proprietary software. If you learned to do computing with proprietary software, you are not only being exploited by proprietary software, you also additionally learned to do computing the WRONG way -- solution is therefore not just in replacing the proprietary software, but also learning to do computing WELL.
For example most users nowadays want [GUI](gui.md) in all programs, which is how they've been nurtured by capitalism, however we have to realize that **a truly ([de facto](de_facto.md), not just legally) free software has to be [minimalist](minimalism.md)** and so most TRULY free software will mostly work only from the [command line](cli.md); a command line program is not necessarily harder or less comfortable to use (users are just nurtured to think so by capitalism), it is however inherently more free than a GUI one in all ways (not only by being more flexible, efficient, [portable](portability.md) and non-discrimination, but also simpler and therefore e.g. modifiable by more people). We have to realize that a **freedom respecting computing environment INHERENTLY LOOKS DIFFERENT from the proprietary one**, the matter is NOT only about the license (free license is just a necessary condition to allow freedom under capitalism, however it is not a sufficient condition for freedom). Some projects calling themselves "free" (or rather "[open source](open_source.md)") make the mistake (sometimes intentionally, exactly to e.g. more easily pull over more users from the proprietary land) of simply mimicking proprietary ways 1 to 1 -- see e.g. [Fediverse](fediverse.md) ("free" facebook/twitter/etc.), [Blender](blender.md) etc. -- these are technically/legally free, but not actually, de-facto free. While a short-sighted view tells us this wins more users from the proprietary platforms, in long term we see we are just rebuilding dystopias, only painted with brighter colors so as to make them look friendlier (and oftentimes this is exactly the aim of the authors). Transitioning to TRULY free platforms is harder -- **one has to relearn basic things** such as, as has been mentioned, working with command line rather than GUI -- but ultimately right as one really gets more freedom, however under capitalist pressure and nurturing it is a hard thing to do, requiring extorting a lot of energy to resist the pressures of society.
For example most users nowadays want [GUI](gui.md) in all programs, which is how they've been nurtured by capitalism, however we have to realize that **a truly ([de facto](de_facto.md), not just legally) free software has to be [minimalist](minimalism.md)** and so most TRULY free software will mostly work only from the [command line](cli.md); a command line program is not necessarily harder or less comfortable to use (users are just nurtured to think so by capitalism), it is however inherently more free than a GUI one in all ways (not only by being more flexible, efficient, [portable](portability.md) and non-discrimination, but also simpler and therefore e.g. modifiable by more people). We have to realize that a **freedom respecting computing environment INHERENTLY LOOKS DIFFERENT from the proprietary one**, the matter is NOT only about the license (free license is just a necessary condition to allow freedom under capitalism, however it is not a sufficient condition for freedom). People confronted with this fact for the first time usually start freaking out and panicking and they go full denial mode and start yelling NO THAT NOT TRUE THAT CAN'T BE TRUE, they erect a mental blocker and start desperately clutching onto ANY excuse at all they can find, they will start googling youtubers who say the opposite so they can remain in they sweet dreamlike state in which they don't have to abandon their favorite belowed Windows games and lovely pimped out GUI and LED keyboards they post on Twitter every day -- nevertheless this is 100% hard to swallow truth pill that is NECESSARY to be accepted if one wants to live in truth; not accepting this means choosing the way of comfortable self deceit of the eternal [NPC](npc.md). Some projects calling themselves "free" (or rather "[open source](open_source.md)") make the mistake (sometimes intentionally, exactly to e.g. more easily pull over more users from the proprietary land) of simply mimicking proprietary ways 1 to 1 -- see e.g. [Fediverse](fediverse.md) ("free" facebook/twitter/etc.), [Blender](blender.md) etc. -- these are technically/legally free, but not actually, de-facto free. While a short-sighted view tells us this wins more users from the proprietary platforms, in long term we see we are just rebuilding dystopias, only painted with brighter colors so as to make them look friendlier (and oftentimes this is exactly the aim of the authors). Transitioning to TRULY free platforms is harder -- **one has to relearn basic things** such as, as has been mentioned, working with command line rather than GUI -- but ultimately right as one really gets more freedom, however under capitalist pressure and nurturing it is a hard thing to do, requiring extorting a lot of energy to resist the pressures of society.
After some years dealing with software freedom (in serious ways, making money doesn't count) many -- including [us](lrs.md) -- realize that the "licensing" fuss and legal questions, though important, are the surface, shallow views of freedom; one that also gets exploited by many (see e.g. [openwashing](openwashing.md)). Those who seek real freedom will sooner or later find themselves focusing on [minimalism](minimalism.md) and simplicity, e.g. [LRS](lrs.md), [suckless](suckless.md), [Bitreich](bitreich.md) etc. Going yet further, one starts to see the inherent interconnections of technology and whole society, and has to become interested also in social concepts, hence our proposal of [less retarded society](less_retarded_society.md).
After some years dealing with software freedom (in serious ways, making money doesn't count) many -- including [us](lrs.md) -- realize that the "licensing" fuss and legal questions, though important, are the surface, shallow views of freedom; one that also gets exploited by many (see e.g. [openwashing](openwashing.md)). Those who seek real freedom will sooner or later find themselves focusing on [minimalism](minimalism.md) and simplicity, e.g. [LRS](lrs.md), [suckless](suckless.md), [Bitreich](bitreich.md), [DuskOS](duskos.md) etc. Going yet further, one starts to see the inherent interconnections of technology and whole society, and has to become interested also in social concepts, hence our proposal of [less retarded society](less_retarded_society.md).
## See Also
- [GNU](gnu.md) and [FSF](fsf.md)
- [free hardware](free_hardware.md)
- [open source](open_source.md)
- [free culture](free_culture.md)
@ -75,4 +76,4 @@ After some years dealing with software freedom (in serious ways, making money do
- [copyfree](copyfree.md)
- [freedom distance](freedom_distance.md)
- [FreeLore](freelore.md)
- [kosher software](kosher_software.md)
- [kosher software](kosher_software.md)