Fallen Tech Blog

I would like to describe exactly what happened to me over the last 6 years or so, that I affectionately call "The GPL Effect".

Six years ago, I found out about GNU/Linux. I had been using other operating systems such as Novell Netware, Windows, Commodore 64 OS and DOS for years, and had dabbled in VMS and UNIX. While I'd been using computers for many years already, I hadn't purchased much software. I was generally given software from friends and didn't think much about the fact that I was stealing.

I read about GNU/Linux in a magazine one day and was introduced to the concept of the GPL - GNU (http://www.gnu.org/) General Public License. I read that GNU/Linux is "free" and it fascinated me, though I only was thinking of it from a cost point of view. I liked the fact that I could get a distribution, a CD (or now - DVD or set of CDs) that not only contained an Operating System that was greatly superior than most others I'd used, but also a complete set of applications that ran within that operating system, all for absolutely nothing ... LEGALLY.

At this point, I had NO idea how much my life would be changed, because of this.

Follow up:

Over the next couple of years I started to actively use GNU/Linux and began thinking more about what they were giving me. Being a Software Engineer, I greatly appreciated that I also got the source code to these programs so that I could make changes as I saw fit, and the only real restriction was that if I gave out my changed version, that the source also went with it. I had real, grant appreciation for these people so I wanted to give back to them ... so I did. I submitted bug fixes to a couple of projects, helped people out using others, and started donating money to projects too. Here I had moved from being a person who had LOADS of software that cost money that I didn't pay for, to someone who used software that didn't cost anything, that I gave money for!

That was the start, but not the end of The GPL Effect.

I started changing for the better and couldn't stop. I started buying games that supported GNU/Linux, in order to encourage it's development. I started looking at how I could help others in the community more. I started telling people about GNU/Linux and what it's benefits were. I started buying games that ran in GNU/Linux, even if I didn't like them.

I then started to realize exactly what I was truly getting from the GPL. Freedom. Free, as in speech. I started to understand why advocates of the GPL get angry when people talk about free software is all about getting it for nothing. In fact Richard Stallman, the founder of the GNU project, even said that people should download ISOs of a free GNU/Linux distribution, burn it to CDs, and then go sell it to some people!

People miss the point about it being FREE... As in speech... It's about your right to do whatever you want with the software, including selling it, as long as the license stays attached. I have seen people saying "oh you're allowed to get back the cost of the CDs you burn it too" or "you are allowed to sell it for a SMALL profit" but it's not the case! The license doesn't restrict you to such things. You can take something that's licensed under the GPL and sell it for $7,000,000 if you would want to - it's part of the freedom the GPL protects.

This is indeed an issue that people are having and it will probably only get worse. Recently there was an issue with CDs being sold with Mozilla Firefox (http://www.spreadfirefox.com/) on them. The Trading Standards department of a town contacted Gervase Markham (http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/gerv/) regarding this issue, and failed to understand that people who WEREN'T IN ANY WAY associated with Mozilla, could be legally allowed to sell copies of Mozilla's copyrighted software.

While the Firefox browser is NOT actually licensed under the GPL (it is under the Mozilla Public License), it still (to my understanding) maintains and supports the idea of freedom, just not quite as strictly as the GPL (unfortunately this is where the specifics get a little tricky - thanks Gervase for the correction).

Gervase's blog entry regarding this (http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/gerv/)
His actual article here (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/)

This generous, and selfless license (and indeed others similar to it) fills me with hope about mankind. The GNU/Linux community is full of people giving what they can so everyone can benefit.

I have looked well beyond software and the GPL now.

I take much more notice about how I'm living my life:

• I now buy products that are made in my country (Australia), out of materials made/grown in my country, by people in my country because it will help my country, and the people in it - EVEN if it costs me 10 times the price
• I boycott Sony and Coca-Cola and other companies that do wrong
• I stand up for my rights and the rights of others
• I put a lot more thought into products I support and recommend
• I don't buy DRM'd music and things that restrict my rights and freedoms
• I gave up on CDs and protected music and ended up finding MUCH BETTER music and artists at DRM-Free sites that respect my freedoms like Magnatune (http://magnatune.com/)
• I try not to bend my morals, for what I want and instead accept that I cannot have some things if I want my morals intact.

All of these and more things that I now do in my life are actually owed to the GPL - so, this, I affectionately call, "The GPL Effect".