Software and Freedom

A big part of my life involves software (and therefore, of
course, computers). After all, I write software for a
living. But there is a peculiarity about the software that
I actually use, both to get work done at the office and to
play around at home. I try, wherever possible, to use
free software.

Occasionally, I have a conversation, or write an e-mail
message, or post a message such as this one, in order to
advocate the use of free software or just to let others know
what free software is.

Ultimately, free software is about the freedom of speech.
It is about the freedom to think of a neat idea, to write
some software to carry out that idea, and to distribute the
software to anyone.

There is, however, a software-related war raging. In U.S.
courts, battles are being fought right now. The outcome of
the war will determine whether certain freedoms that exist
now will continue to exist in the future.

On this particular occasion, I refer, as a report on the
aforementioned war, to an article
by Richard Stallman, who, many years ago, started the
Free Software Foundation.

Stallman begins by talking a bit about IBM. IBM has for a
couple of years been fighting key battles on the side of
freedom. Recently, IBM released about 500 software-related
patents under licensing terms agreeable to the free-software
community. Stallman mentions this as a backdrop for his
critique of a recent, similar-sounding---but ultimately
meaningless---announcement by Sun Microsystems. He writes:

Perhaps Sun will eventually give substance to its words,
and make this step a real one like IBM's. Perhaps some other
large companies will take similar steps. Would this make
free software safe from the danger of software patents?
Would the problem of software patents be solved? Not on your
life. Neither one.

We can be quite sure that not all large patent holders will
do this. In fact, there is one company with lots of patents
that surely won't take such a step. That is Microsoft, which
says it is our enemy. Microsoft would love to make useful
free software effectively illegal, and has plenty of money
to pay lawyers to use whatever avenues governments provide
them.

That last sentence, in particular, prompted me to post this
message, because Stallman identified succinctly the central
conflict of the war. Not only Microsoft but also SCO would
like to see useful free software cease to exist.

One of the biggest problems facing the free software community
is the software patent. Unfortunately, the software patent
exists in the United States. The EU is currently debating the
issue, and certain courageous countries like Poland are
resisting the corporate pressure to enact a software patent
policy in the EU.

We shall move toward that aspect of fascism that is an economy
dominated by corporate monopoly only if the government grants
corporations the legal means of achieving their fascist end.
The patent system, when it comes to software, no longer stimulates
innovation but stifles it, and, what's worse, provides the tools
that media and software companies may use toward an end that is
ultimately undesirable not just for computer geeks like me, but
for everyone.