…and how it pertains to computing.

As those who know me already are aware: I’m a huge GNULinux fan. About that name: “GNULinux’… I will endeavour to use that name instead of just Linux because Linux is just the OS kernel. Users don’t actually see it: they ‘talk’ to GNU, which is the UI and the apps and all the rest of what makes GNULinux so awesome.

Anyway, the reason I’m such a huge fan is not because it is free  — mind you, that does influence my liking it some, but for other reasons than just “I don’t need to spend money to have it”. I actually don’t mind spending money for quality products.

I do hate having to spend more and more money to do what I want to on a computer. And I really hate investing in products – i.e., software – only to find out it doesn’t live up to expectations. But even more, I thoroughly revile those who charge me money for a sub-optimal product, then when they fix it, charge me more for the fix. And – unbeknownst to me – monitor my behaviour and activities via this software I just purchased. And deliberately hobble my version of the software but offer that functionality in a significantly more expensive version: not eclectic, hardly-ever-needed functionality but core stuff. That, I really have an issue with.

I’m, of course, talking about Microsoft Windows. I recently purchased Win7 Home Edition. Home networking on MS Windows used to be quite easy… now, it’s a royal PITA.

— Functionality that should be part of the OS is disabled: you have to purchase a more expensive version to get persistent connections between your systems, for example.

— And, it’s spyware.

— Vista was a mess, instead of rolling out a free fix for those who purchased it, they charged to upgrade.

Why do I still use it? Because there is software that won’t run well in an emulator or at all in the healthy alternative. I’ve actually gotten to the point where I won’t bring up Poser Pro 2012 for weeks on end because it involved going into Windows, and by the time it’s finished all it’s updates and stalls and faffing around, I’ve lost interest. And go back to Mint and Blender and the really fast, really good stuff.

I guess what has really driven the iron into the soul has been information I’ve become aware of subsequent to listening to this interview. The interviewer is clearly a jackass who has absolutely nil clue about what Richard is talking about, but at least it gave Stallman a chance to air those views, which then led me to listen to another video where he was able to enlarge on those views. Whilst I don’t agree with him about Open-Source as a community – it’s probably true that the OSS movement as such doesn’t support the philosophy of freedom of computing, but it’s still a move in the right direction. Generally, it’s brought me up to speed what the phrase “‘free’ as in ‘freedom’, not as in ‘free beer'” means, and has given me a zeal: to develop free software for a – currently – relatively free OS: GNULinux. I hope to eventually charge for my software, but it will always remain free. Libre.