Linux

Make Sure You FLOSS

Well, I suppose I’ve spoiled the ending with my title. But I want to talk about how my opinions on software have changed. I’ve been a “techie” for as long as I can remember, but over the past few years tech has been making me grumpy. The Beginnings I remember a story from 2009 about Amazon pulling copies of, believe it or not, 1984 and Animal Farm from people’s Kindles. There is some nuance: apparently the seller didn’t actually hold the copyright to the books. But it showed the world the Brave New World we were entering. People had paid for those books and thought they owned them, but what they owned was a license that Amazon could revoke at any time. People no longer own things; corporations own them, and we just pay for a long-term rental.