|
About puppies in software
|
In the discussions about Open Source and Free Software, I know
(including from experience) that the corporate world prefers the
Open Source side, in the sense that the Open Source definition is
a set of contract goals, that a contract lawyer can use to evaluate
the suitability of a license (i.e. a form of contract) against those
goals. Free Software on the other hand defines itself in terms of
ethics and user freedoms, which is a far less palatable approach
for most corporations.
The definition of Free Software warns us that we should think in
terms of free speech, not of free beer, i.e. in terms of a legal
right to do certain things, not in terms of not having to pay for
something.
I'm not a fan of using those exact 2 poles. Because free-as-in-beer
is an important aspect for many users. Because free-as-in-beer is
also the freedom to test a product, entirely unrestricted, without
having to pay for it, so it is a form of legal freedom in the case
of software. I use some Free Software merely for being free-as-in-beer,
especially games. Finally, free speech is not necessarily the best
type of freedom to model software.
I am evolving the way I'm thinking about Free Software. Specifically,
I'm leaning toward thinking that Free Software is primary a matter
of free will. As a user of Free Software, I can decide how much I
use it, I can decide whether I upgrade it or not, I can decide to
maintain it for my use case, I can decide to add or remove features,
I can decide to extract and re-use functionality for other purposes,
I can decide to adapt the software to other hardware or operating
systems. I can decide to pay someone I choose to do any of those
for me. I have free will.
Free speech is also a part of software, on the side of writing and
releasing software. The most recent demo I released for the Atari ST,
a few months ago, was written in memory of a fellow demo coder who
died in a car crash. However, I didn't need to release the source
code of that demo to express that we hadn't forgotten him. Yes,
releasing source code is also speech, in that I want to explain to
others how my code works.
Now, puppies. When you get a free puppy, you don't have to pay to
acquire it. But the lack of an initial cost doesn't negate later
costs. The puppy will need to be fed, it will need attention, it
will need medical care, it will need to be walked, it will need toys.
All of those have costs, whether time or money, because you got the
puppy "as is". Free Software tends to be like free puppies. You
might use Free Software because it has no upfront monetary cost, but you
have to keep in mind that it might have later costs, which you need to be
ready for. Don't go use a library like libxml2 and expect that someone
will maintain it for you for free forever under your terms. You got it
"as is", deal with it, and be grateful that, maybe, the original
author or other maintainers will keep working on it and will keep
releasing updates as Free Software.
|
|
Back to home page
|
Related articles
|
Posted on June 29 2025
|