In 1985 I was at NAIT taking Electronics Engineering. The Internet hadn't been invented yet and we were busy sharing our excitement of unseen forces - electrons. The thought of hiding the results of the gold leaf experiment was a foreign to us as stealing the gold. We just assumed everyone had our best interest at heart and for the most part they did. Fast forward 25 years and we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of software freedom. Thanks in a large part to Richard Stalman and Linus. Now days it seems it is ok to steal the gold as long as you don't get caught. Music and DVD's are dangled in front of us trying to get us to buy and then if they get our attention they throw in Digital Rights Management. It is like taking your shirt off to enjoy the Sun and the Sun then charges you. Ubuntu doesn't get caught in with this deceitful practice. The developers release the best code for all to enjoy and that is why I try to help them out whenever I can. Sure I could be installing Vista +1 on everyone's computer, but as soon as people try to use it they will run into DRM. Life is about learning to live peacefully with others. Every time someone sues me I have a harder time giving that person my blessing. Microsoft is now trying to protect their Market Share by giving away their anti-virus code. The freedom here is to use the code for free, but not to modify it. Mind you Microsoft's suing potential is not as strong as it once was, now that nobody needs their software and people who run Ubuntu only save regularly 50% on their information exchange costs. I am hoping that I can be instrumental in helping people exchange info. Too bad it is so hard to tell who is trying to help you and who is trying to hose you.
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