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Of Linux, the Bible, the Reformation, and PioneersA couple of years ago I engaged a former Microsoft Program Manager in a conversation. He was now working for a startup using Linux, and when he found out that I was heavily involved in Linux, he asked me what I liked best about it. "I like the fact that it is so adaptable," was my reply. "You can take it, tweak it, bend it to your whim, and then send those changes out to the world so that they can use them and do the same." Since he was doing that very same thing, I expected him to have a similar point of view. Not so. His defensive reply was that he could do all of those same things with Windows and the Enterprise Deployment Kit. "You can make whatever changes you want to the desktop and send it out to thousands of users all at once!" he countered. I have never used the Enterprise Deployment Kit, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Our conversation quickly deteriorated after that, as we realized that we had little in common. "Sure," I thought, "maybe you can do that. But can I, as an average individual, get the source code, tweak it, and publish those changes? Can I get it at no cost to me and with no royalties attached? Can I distribute it under licensing terms as liberal as the free licenses under which most Open Source programs are distributed? Perhaps I could do the same thing with Windows, if I were the IT manager of a large company, with a large budget, who was willing to pay Microsoft heavily for the privilege. But I am not, and I have no desire to be." As I have thought about this conversation in the time since, I have come to see similarities between Free vs. Proprietary Software and the Spiritual Reformation that started in Europe in the Middle Ages. Consider the religious state of the Western World in the year 1300: Religion was thriving, but spirituality was low. One single religion dominated this landscape, its leaders generally lifted up in pride because they were allowed to read the Bible whereas the common people, the people of their congregations, could not (and if they could, they were not allowed to, on pain of death). The doctrine was corrupt, to the point of selling permission to sin to those who would pay to help them build bigger buildings. History tells us of many who were put to death because they disagreed with the implementation of these corrupt doctrines. But then things changed. Enough people wanted reforms that even though the first many of them were executed, change eventually happened. Looking back, the catalyst of those changes was, in my opinion, the Gutenberg press and the first (small) printing of the Bible for the masses. In the late 1980s, 1990s, and early years of this millenium we have had a single company who has dominated the PC software market. Feature lists on this company's flagship OS product were high, but innovation was low. Source code was kept so that only the privileged few could see it, and the masses were told that they had no choice in the matter, on the pain of being incompatible and unable to communicate with the rest of the world. The ability to infiltrate your computer, regulate your programs, and censor your data was sold to corrupt government officials, lobbying organizations, and more so that they could raise their stock price. But then things changed. Enough people wanted alternative software so that, while many of the first companies and organizations that tried it did not financially succeed, those who came after were able to show users that they did have a choice. Looking back, the catalyst of those changes was the release of Linux, and the ability of the masses to create their own Operating System. Linux and the GPL have changed the face of computing in the same way that the Gutenberg Press and the Bible changed the face of religion. The efforts of Gutenberg, coupled with Wycliffe, Hus, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, and so on, help those of us in many parts of the world enjoy the religious freedom we have today (even if you aren't religious, would you have enjoyed living in 14th Century Europe under those circumstances? we are very fortunate to have the ability to choose not to be religious - they did not have that choice). The efforts of Stallman, Torvalds, and many others are starting to place us in the situation we have today. Choice is emerging, and with it freedom from monopoly and manipulation. 600+ years from now, we may not be using Linux or the GPL any more, we may have moved on to something even better (who knows what will be invented?), but we can remember the pioneers who gave us this freedom. And we can help move it along.
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bubar 06/10/2005 18:04:13
Anonymous
