Free Software Foundation Trashes Sinful Windows 7

BOSTON/Boston Common - Approximately twenty members of the Free Software Foundation and supporters of free open source software gathered at the entrance to Boston Common from the Public Garden Wednesday to erect a giant trash bin into which they threw representations of proprietary software like Microsoft Windows 7 Mac OS X and the iPhone. The demonstration marked the launch of their Windows 7 Sins campaign which identifies seven negative cultural impacts of Microsoft's proprietary software ecosystem and encourages users to use free software instead. FSF Executive Director Peter Brown saw the imminent release of Windows 7 as an opportunity to educate people about their computing options. "Every time Microsoft pushes people towards the latest version of their operating system it's an opportunity to remind people of the alternative of free software. [...] Investing in proprietary software is against the good of society. And raising that kind of awareness is really important if people want to have control over their computing." As part of their Windows 7 Sins campaign the FSF has sent letters to 499 of the Fortune 500 companies. One company is conspicuously absent from the list because the FSF "didn't think Microsoft would listen." The letter asks these large companies to "evaluate your organizations opportunity to use free software" and insists that "investing in Microsoft's Windows 7 will only get you more stuck and more dependent on them." FSF asks viewers to print and mail a copy of the letter to "Windows 7 decision makers that people have identified in within their own organization or community." Passersby gawked at Brown as he dressed in an oversized GNU head and hooves and tossed copies of Windows 7 into the trash shouting "GNU wins again!" while FSF members educated park visitors about free software handing out flyers that read "Microsoft is trashing your freedom " and encouraging them to switch to free open source alternatives rather than upgrade to Windows 7. Brown considers the FSF a civil liberties movement protecting the rights of users to control their own computing and raising awareness of detrimental cultural effects of proprietary software. The Windows 7 Sins campaign site lists some of those effects: "Poisoning education" by forcing students to use a single company's closed software; "Lock-in " which forces users to continue using Microsoft software and to upgrade before it may be necessary; "Enforcing Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) " preventing the legal recording of television shows at NBC's request for example. The site also includes a brief history of questionable Microsoft business practices. Holmes Wilson Campaigns Manager for the FSF expounded on the chilling effect of proprietary software on education. "The fundamental role of schools is to encourage a level of curiosity and inquisitiveness and exploration in students that cultivates an engagement with the world and with ideas. When you're using computers in the classroom that are running proprietary software there's this barrier there that prevents students from understanding the machine they're using. It is a real in some ways an affront to the natural inquisitiveness of any student. If somebody gets into computers but then they can't dig into the computer that they're actually using there in the classroom that's stifling a level of... That's stifling a desire to learn that really schools should be encouraging." Peter Olson Senior Systems Administrator at FSF explained how Microsoft achieves customer lock-in by petitioning school districts to adopt their software and introducing it to computer users at a young age. "Supposing you went to school and they told you you had to learn Windows. And the only thing you ever learned was Windows. And then when you graduate you go out and buy a machine that uses Windows. And you work in a business where all the machines use Windows. And so you can see the lock-in that Microsoft obtains by getting their fingers into education." Wilson added that with free open source software "you have machines that are accessible. If a student is interested in how their own machine is looking they can look under the hood and they can see the different parts of a program that are making it work. They can change things see what happens they can break it they can fix it. [...] That's how people learn." None of this is possible with proprietary software the source code to which is kept hidden from users. With regards to content restricted by DRM Wilson added "It's illegal for them to look inside. It's a serious legal issue and it's a legal issue for anyone telling them how to do it even." Echoing Brown's sentiment that the FSF is a civil rights movement many FSF members and volunteers discussed the importance of community and personal interaction to free open source software. Wilson understands free software as "a process and a community of people working towards a goal—people all around the world contributing to this code and making it better and adding features. And doing it in a way that benefits humanity as a whole." "Here I am at the center of the movement " Olson said describing the advantage of his position with FSF over working on open source projects at another tech company. "Here as you can see we go out and we talk to people. I mean I could talk to people in bars as an IBM employee but I think it's a lot more direct and meaningful for me. [...] I always think a good job is one where you can tell that what you're doing has an immediate impact on people. And so FSF is a good job." Microsoft would not comment on FSF's Windows 7 Sins campaign and Apple did not reply to a request for comment. Open Media Boston was unable to reach Massachusetts Department of Education's Educational Technology office for comment. View the Free Software Foundation's site. Updated August 29 with additional information on FSF letter to Fortune 500. Bookmark/Search this post with: Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Newsvine Facebook Google Yahoo Technorati