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After 30 Years of the Free Software Foundation, Where Do We Stand?

Posted by samzenpus on from the what's-changed? dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this interview with John Sullivan, Executive Director of The Free Software Foundation. "There is a growing concern about government surveillance. At the same time, those of us who live and breathe technology do so because it provides us with a service and freedom to share our lives with others. There is a tacit assumption that once we leave the store, the device we have in our pocket, backpack, or desk is ours. We buy a computer, a tablet, a smartphone, and we use applications and apps without even thinking about who really owns the tools and whether we truly own any of it. You purchase a device, yet you are not free to modify it or the software on it in any way. It begs the question of who really owns the device and the software?"

5 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. It doesn't 'beg' the question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...it raises the question.

    1. Re:It doesn't 'beg' the question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Thank you. Fixing that idiom error is a rough toad to hoe. Most people just ankle the line because they're so well heeled.

  2. That's because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We buy a computer, a tablet, a smartphone, and we use applications and apps without even thinking about who really owns the tools and whether we truly own any of it.

    That's because only a vanishingly small percentage of the population really cares about hacking on their devices. I know this is heresy here on Slashdot, but it's true. 99+% of the population simply don't give a shit whether or not they can build their own applications for the device.

    Why?

    Because 99+% of the population does not have the necessary time, skill, and interest to do so. It's not that people are dumb - it's that they just don't care about replacing the existing software that lets them do all the things they want to do with their devices.

    1. Re:That's because by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And yet, the majority of iPhones in Asia are jailbroken. Why? Because they care about replacing the existing software because it doesn't let them do all the things they want?

    2. Re:That's because by TWX · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Even for those of us that do have an inclination for digging into the working parts of our devices, times come where we just want the darned thing to work.

      I've been using Linux since the 2.0.0 kernel debuted in 1996. I have not rooted my phone, because unlike the Linux boxes that I've set up as my workstations, I need my phone to work 100% of the time. If I break my computer it's not a big deal, I have both other hobbies that don't use computers, and I have other computers themselves. By contrast I have one phone, and based on both the costs for subscribing multiple handsets and the cost of those handsets themselves (and their penchant for only being replaced when they're actually physically broken in my case) I do not have a spare phone to revert to should I break the current one.

      I'm a geek that figures out how just about everything works, but I don't necessarily feel a need to take everything apart simply because I know how it works.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.