Who said using free software was going to be easy?

Every so often I find myself falling into a Stallmanesque-like frame of mind. Anyone who has ever met or read anything about Richard Stallman will know exactly what I mean. For those that don`t, a brief summary is in order: As founder and keeper of the Free Software Foundation, Stallman has made a career out of promoting free software in the most uncompromising way possible. As a result, he regularly passes judgements on 'open source` companies that are neither complimentary not designed to win him any friends.

The battle is about creating viable alternatives to proprietary software.

Alastair Otter, journalist, ITWeb

Stallman is, however, more than just a crackpot on the fringes of society and recently I have started to understand and appreciate his point of view. This change of heart has been brought about by the many companies that proclaim the virtues of free software and then, almost in the same breath, talk about protecting their investments with patents and closed source software. And the more I hear it, the more I realise that the ideals of the free software movement are slipping away from us.

I`m not only talking about the large Gnu/Linux distribution companies that are including non-free software in their distributions; I am talking about the companies that distribute Gnu/Linux built entirely around a proprietary installer. SuSE is an obvious target on this score and while its YaST tools are a fantastic piece of software, its proprietary nature makes it an uneasy fit in the world of free software.

The real problem comes in further down the Gnu/Linux chain where the principles of free software become very muddy. As more and more companies jump on the free software train, very few of them see Gnu/Linux as anything more than a cheap and effective way to get the job done.

At the risk of being labelled as idealistic as Stallman himself, I believe the principles of free software are still very important. It is these self-same principles that got us to this point -- a time at which free software is no longer a sideshow put on by fanatics but a viable alternative to proprietary software.

And when supposedly free software companies talk about patenting their software I know exactly how Stallman feels. The refrain is always the same: "we have to protect our investment". The only response is: what about the investment made by thousands of programmers worldwide that built up what is today`s Gnu/Linux operating system? People who ask for nothing more in return than recognition and the knowledge that they helped build a great system?

I suppose the bottom line is this: If you plan to build a business on free software then expect to give back to the community. Even considering software patents is antithetical to the free software movement.

Also, no one ever said that using free software was going to be easy. It is getting easier, granted, but there is still a long way to go -- particularly on the desktop user side. How often has this question been asked: "Can I run Microsoft Word on Linux?" I suppose in reality you can -- assuming you have a lot of time and a good Windows emulator or two -- but practically you can`t. At least not until Microsoft releases its software under a Gnu licence.

The battle is not to get Microsoft products installed on Linux boxes. It is about producing the tools that do the same job without limitations of proprietary software.