Free Software

While purchasing my computer science textbook today, one of the cashiers commented about the blurb on the front cover thay says "Free software CD included". Paraphrased, he said something like "Free software...that's funny!"

This really hit home. Though I'm currently not aware if the contents of the included CD consist of free software (in the "GNU" sense, or the "open-source" sense), I took this comment to mean that "software cannot be free, so the statement on the front cover is misleading".

This is how I used to think about software. Five years ago, my understanding of "software" was very limited; I was aware of Microsoft and Apple software, but everything else was foreign to me.

Right here, the real truth should be reiterated: free software is not a myth. Free software exists and is used everyday. There are even different levels of free. Let's consider two different cases:

Internet Explorer. Is it free? Well, it's free to download and typically installed on Windows. There's also a catch here: many people don't understand that Internet Explorer is a piece of software. It is. It is not the internet. Internet Explorer is software, just as Microsoft Word is. Back to the point... For many people, this level of freedom is enough. Most of the time, the reason is that they don't give the matter a second thought. Just trust Microsoft or Apple, right?

LilyPond. This is the other side of the coin. Is it free? Yes, it's free to download from lilypond.org, and it can be installed on the most popular operating systems (Windows, Mac, GNU/Linux, BSD) or compiled from source on almost any operating system. There is a difference of "freedom" between Internet Explorer and LilyPond: Internet Explorer's source code can only be modified by Microsoft, but LilyPond's source code can be modified by anyone and redistributed under the same license. Is this important? It depends on your perspective. From the perspective of a computer programmer, the level of "freedom" a user has with LilyPond might sound more appealing, but a lay user might not give a s*** and just go with the flow. Of course, I am simplifying the issues here, but hopefully this is clear.

Free software exists. You don't have to pay for software. If you have hardware that apparently requires drivers that do not run on your system, or do not respect the level of freedom you require, hire a computer programmer to write drivers for you, or write them yourself if you have this ability. If you use niche software that can't run on your operating system, hire someone to write a program for you that does what you want, or again, do it yourself (if you have the ability, have time, etc.), or post a request to an online forum, newsgroup, etc.

But, wait! Did I just contradict myself? I just suggested that you can hire a programmer...and that requires money! Yes, but this is also free, from a different perspective. You, as a computer user, have the freedom to seek better software that you can use, that fits you. Certainly, programmers will charge you, but you will feel better in the end knowing that your software will work for you, not against you.

P.S. Of course, in the end, I think the cashier misunderstood; the blurb meant "Free CD with software included". A CD is bundled, the CD is free, and the CD contains software. In other words, the "free" description does not refer to the software. :-)