Re: GNOME and the free software movement

[Máirín Duffy <duffy redhat com>]

Hi Richard,

Richard Stallman wrote:
> In general, a free program that runs in a completely free system is a
> contribution to freedom; but GNOME is special: it was launched
> specifically to defend our freedom.  We stated GNOME to blunt the
> danger of the (then) non-free QT library.  I think most GNOME users
> and developers today are not aware of this.

I actually remember those days, but I was not an active member of the 
community at the time.

> I would like to ask the candidates for the board to state their views
> on how GNOME can work with the broader free software movement
> for the advance of computer users' freedom.

From a practical standpoint, I think a lot of computer users seek the 
instant gratification of getting their task done now in the quickest, 
easiest fashion. I do not think that they fully consider the long-term 
effects of their choice - they want to get things done in the short-term.

On the other hand, people are beginning to understand the importance of 
software freedom over time. For example, many folks now find themselves 
unable open personal documents locked away in particular file formats, 
or unable to run their business in an efficient manner because the 
software they'd relied on for years is no longer supported and the code 
is not available for them to adjust.

GNOME needs to be the choice folks would make to get the job done 
quickly & easily; they shouldn't have to compromise long-term freedoms 
for their short-term needs. In my opinion, GNOME can help advance 
computer users' freedom by being the best and at the same time remaining 
free - having a technical edge and solid design philosphy over 
competitors in meeting users' needs. I don't think that those three very 
important values (freedom, technical merit, solid design philosophy) are 
sufficient, though. GNOME also needs to become more ubiquitous - we need 
to become more visible through marketing and branding efforts, through 
iniatives like OLPC and the WSOP/Summer of code projects, through an 
informational and helpful website.

The more visible and widely-used GNOME is the more people around the 
world will exercise software freedom. People who aren't accustomed to 
using free software will start realizing its benefits (the business 
person in my earlier example would be able to hire someone to fix the 
softare that runs his business) and understand its importance (it's hard 
to understand something you've never had).

One thing that Chris Blizzard mentioned about the OLPC project during 
the GNOME Boston Summit a few weeks ago I think is also relevant here. 
He mentioned that the OLPC laptops running free software is something we 
can take advantage of to create a more compelling system. For example, 
there is nothing legally preventing us from say, allowing someone to 
transmit an application she found really useful to a friend. Right now 
the model with many distros is to grab software from a central, trusted 
respository, but it may be worth exploring more distributed options.

Perhaps to specifically address the advancement of software freedom we 
could brainstorm innovative ways to take advantage of GNOME's freedom 
such as in Chris' example.

~m