MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-01-26 |
| FROM | akbar
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] [OT] RMS talk in India
|
Stallman cautions Government of Kerala
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Richard M Stallman was speaking at Thrissur in Kerala on Jan 22. RMS, as
he is popularly known in the Internet world (rms-at-gnu.org), was here
after attending World Social Forum at Mumbai.
Free Software, he said had four levels of freedom. At Freedom Level '0',
it allowed anyone to use the software for any purpose. RMS added that
this freedom was offered by most of the proprietary software also.
At Freedom Level '1', he said Free software allowed anyone to study the
source code. This freedom is not there in the non-free proprietary
world. Source code never accompanies non-free proprietary softwares. Its
is even never released. RMS informed that there were numerous instances
in the past when companies would use their popular software to spy on
users. He informed that earlier whenever a Windows XP user went on-line,
the Operating System would inform Microsoft, details of whatever
software was on the hard-disk of the user. "When this issue became a
debating issue, Microsoft quietly removed this feature. But only to
return after a gap. This time the details are encrypted and sent, so
that no one get to know of this". RMS added that even some freeware
(proprietary software that doesn't come with source code) available on
the Internet like RealPlayer also does this.
At Freedom Level '2', RMS said that it allowed anyone freedom to modify
the code. "You are not at the mercy of the company who sold you the
product. You are not helpless here. When you observe some malfunctioning
or you need a feature added to it, you are forced to contact the
software provider. In free software, you yourself can make the
modification if you have those skills, or can approach a technical
programmer nearby to have it fixed for you. Remember, you may have to
pay him for this service." Free software is not non-commercial, RMS
added, and said that he himself had been selling CDs in the initial
stages when he set out to create a world class Operating System. He had
worked alone, after he quit his job at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab
in 1978, disgusted over AT&T's move to make UNIX operating system,
proprietary. By 1984, he established the Free Software Foundation, who
would fund the development activities for reaching the goal of
presenting the global citizen a Free Operating System.
At Freedom Level '3', the user of a free software could share his
software with his friend or neighbour. "In proprietary software world,
this is a crime. Isn't this practice that tells you not to share
anything with anyone, an evil ? Way back, when I started out on my
mission, everyone had this kind of culture, where sharing and
co-operation was the mark of the day. I had convinced myself on the need
to carry this culture ahead, in my programme." This is where Free
Software pushes every other software behind, he said. "This movement,
this Free Software Foundation's movement is based on certain core values
centred around social, political and ethical issues, and is not merely
making available software free of cost. It is a political movement and
looks at the ethical issues." RMS heavily cautioned against using
proprietary software in schools, even if it were available at a cheaper
price or free of cost. "Its like tobacco companies giving away free
cigarettes to children. Their motive is totally different. You have to
take this aspect into notice." The packed hall at John Mathai Centre at
Thrissur listened to the great crusader of justice in the software world
in rapt attention. "Even if the company offers such solutions free of
cost, they may charge later for its upgrades. You need to watch out, be
very careful here. Would you want such a generation of citizens here, in
this part of the world?"
Governments the world over are beginning to appreciate the dangers that
accompany proprietary software and are bringing in legislation to curb
the tendencies in Public Institutions. "This is however not the case
with your Goverment of Kerala. Let me tell you, they have already
computerised most of their programmes in the Departments of Finance and
Local Self Governments on proprietary non-free software. You have to
resist this move. This is not in the interest of the Citizens here. You
got to tell this to your Government. Most of the other departments would
need to interact with these departments, at a later stage. Moreover,
when the Government makes the decision, it is slipping into a state of
helplessness, as later on, it will be dependant on the company to make
any alterations or modifications, even if you have the technical skills
to do it yourself. You are losing your independence. Your freedom is
highly compromised when you use software whose source code is held
secret. Anything can happen. Things can be controlled from remote,
without your knowledge ,using spy code. For public enterprises, this is
not in good taste. This has to be converted into a political issue."
"Moreover, when you are using non-standard and non-free formats of
storing data, you are becoming totally dependant on the supplier. The
Government has to make considerable investment in this area,
immediately, without losing any more time. The more the time lapse, the
greater would be the level of dependance and the cost of migrating back
to free software. In case you need my help, let me tell you, the FSF
people in India are there to offer any kind of technical help." RMS
cautioned the designs that are taking shape across the globe to bring in
a kind of "electronic colonisation". "There are people planning to do
wrong things. You are a world citizen now. You got to resist this
tendency at every level possible."
RMS also answered to a volley of questions on issues that confronted
free software elsewhere. SCO had sued IBM against using GNU Linux that
it said was using pieces of its own code. "I don't think SCO is going to
win. The judge has given SCO just one month time to point out exactly
those parts of the code in the Linux kernel, that it finds
objectionable. I don't think SCO would be able to do this. Even if they
succeed, there is no reason for any panic, the maintainers of the kernel
would come out with appropriate fixes. It would be another opportunity
for the maintainers to show their programming skills."
"Let me tell you that Linux is not the only kernel which is there on GNU
platform. There is also the Hurd kernel, used by GNU Hurd operating
system." "When I started, my mission had been to build a complete
operating system, which I would be calling GNU, acronym for GNU's Not
Unix. Most of the components for the GNU were completed, except for a
small portion, the kernel, without which we couldn't launch the product.
In 1991 Linus Torvalds had built a kernel, that was the only part which
was missing. Linus didn't inform us, he just searched the net to find
all our products that we were giving as free software under the copyleft
and took it and completed. This was an unethical move by Torvalds. He
should have informed us."
On a question on which distributor of GNU Linux is preferred, RMS said
that "most distributors include non-free software along with free
software. This is not good. To me, I think Debian version is totally
free. It doesn't have any non-free software. The Debian license
explicity maintains this stand. However among other variants, I think
Red Hat and Mandrake are committing fewer mistakes, fewer errors. Red
Hat and Mandrake doesn't produce non-free software. They are not
involved. Red Hat in fact produces free software. Companies like Suse
produces non-free software. This is wrong."
RMS, left the hall apparently not being able to cope up with the high
level of humidity. "I am not used to working in this kind of
environment. Its too hot. Your country is too hot for me." RMS shook
hands with everyone who came forward and posed for photographs. In his
iterinary, RMS would be also meeting the leader of Opposition of the
Kerala Legislative Assembly, apart from giving a few more lectures
during course of his tour.
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CK Raju
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