It used to be when I talked about Linux and free software they would say “What’s that?” They wouldn’t have a clue.

Nowadays I find that non-technical computer users will say “Oh yeah…I’ve heard of that…my geeky friend/relative uses it”. And of course to the non-technical computer user, anyone who can install an operating system or reformat a hard drive is a “geek”.

They’re also saying that they’ve heard Windows Vista is really awful and they don’t want to use it.

So the non-technical users are generally hearing good things about Linux and free software and bad things about Microsoft’s latest operating system.

It seems to me that it’s an excellent time to move the free software movement forward. Free software is first and foremost an idea. Ideas do not die.

Their only real competition came from UNIX microcomputers that didn’t run IBM software, was not “user friendly”, did not scale as well, and needed many instead of one easily maintained computer, compared with IBM systems. It was quite different in fact and required the expense of retraining, but was cheaper to implement, would communicate and could share information with IBM and anybody else’s system courtesy of Open Standards like SGML, HDLC, and ASCII, and the UNIX information processing and programming tools. Nobody with any clout was marketing UNIX, but word of mouth (a precursor to the Internet) quickly spread the news amongst technical users.

Admittedly, IBM did try to counter the UNIX competition with their own versions of these Open Standards, and eventually their own version of UNIX, initially on a poor rendition of a desktop workstation.

Circa 1987, 18 years after the invention of UNIX, it became obvious there was a mass migration and IBM eventually suffered loss after loss until they reinvented themselves as a Open Systems company, put UNIX on the server, embraced Linux and never looked back.

Why do people do this? Many say it is because they like to exercise choice and don’t like being told how to do things by the same leader all the time. In the modern political climate, there is hardly any difference between the major parties, but people still vote for change. Will they do this to Big Mickey? Vote him out of the office and replace him with Tux the Friendly Penguin.

We will have to wait till 2010 before it happens in numbers large enough to affect Big Mickey’s popularity, but our need for interoperability, more bang for the buck, people with UNIX expertise, the ethics of sharing, and our basic need for change, is making a lot of us vote already.

And really, Linux is a far better product than was UNIX when it was the alternative choice.

Thank you, Daniel, for providing a very interesting and enlightening perspective on what the FLOSS movement is up against. While I agree with what you have written, I would like to touch on a couple of points you make.

The possibility of Microsoft playing “the nuclear card” in trying to quash FLOSS, although an option of which we should remain aware, is extremely remote. Just as in a real-life nuclear scenario, both sides would perish if Microsoft tried this. As greedy and controlling (and possibly malicious) the Gateses and Ballmers of the world might be, they are intelligent enough to realize that if they used this option, their own destruction would follow.

So Microsoft may present a facade of maniac behavior with a real or imagined “nuclear threat,” but we know better. These “street racers,” as you call them, will indeed turn the steering wheel at the last moment because their own vast riches and profits will evaporate if they don’t.

They know that. And because we also know that, too, we can free ourselves from the submission that this sort of threat tries to impose on both us — those of us working to bring FLOSS to the masses — and the computing public in general.

Rather than the “nuclear threat,” Microsoft is taking a page from the U.S. foreign policy playbook. How? History shows that between 1945 to the fall of communism in the former USSR, the U.S. used a policy of “containment” against the USSR, stopping the spread of communism through covert operations or brute force in other countries (a policy that, as a U.S. citizen who has lived through most of it, is completely shameful; but I digress). Substitute “Microsoft” for “U.S.” and “FLOSS” for “communism” in the preceding sentence and you have the same situation today when it comes to where we, as a digital society, stand.

So while we should be aware of larger “weaponry” in Microsoft’s arsenal, focusing on the constant stream of FUD flowing from Redmond could be of more immediate importance; this FUD campaign primarily consists of the myth that FLOSS is on the margins and cannot be mainstream. We know better, and it’s incumbent on us to make sure everyone knows the truth. Coupling the fact that the FLOSS movement is making gains at a time when public distrust of Microsoft continues to rise, we have an opportunity to provide another option.

Promote and exercise the “GNU-clear option,” instead of the “nuclear option.”

The GNU-clear option is not a proposal to “reinvent the wheel” — the blueprint and philosophy that guides the FLOSS movement is well established and continues to provide a firm foundation on which to build the movement. Among other things, the GNU-clear option offers the choice that the myths about FLOSS can be busted and it truly can transform both the personal computing experience and society as a whole, despite lies to the contrary pumped out of corporate headquarters around the world and printed/broadcasted by a spoon-fed corporate media.

Let me give you an example: When was the last time you spoke to anyone — anyone who was not a computer person, that is; just a friend, relative or even a good-looking guy (or gal) at the bar or pub — about FLOSS? Today, I hope, but if not, make a point to do so. My conversion to FLOSS came as a result of a simple conversation with a supporter during my campaign as Green Party candidate for Insurance Commissioner in California last year — a conversation that lasted only a few minutes (including the exchanges of e-mails), but it clearly made a huge impression. I can’t code to save my life, but as a journalist I can publish a magazine (which premieres in July) and maintain a Web site to promote FLOSS principles to those non-geeks wishing to learn more.

That is my contribution. And we all have contributions to make — none of which are too small or insignificant — in bringing FLOSS to the mainstream and fighting the corporate paranoia and maniac behavior that gestates in their boardrooms and executive offices.

Ultimately, a corporate strategy based on fear and manipulation of the public will fail, allowing us to prevail.

Thank you for this article, Daniel.

Sincerely,
Larry Cafiero
Editor/Publisher
Open Source Reporter