(LIVERMORE, CA.) – Livermore resident and advocate Joe Lee has spoken at several city council meetings to encourage Livermore to adopt free software.
If you are not familiar with the term ‘free software’, you may be asking what it is and why it is important.
Photo Credit: GNU.org
Lee explains that a good point of reference for understanding this idea is a TED Talk given by Richard Stallman, the founder of the free software movement.
In the TED Talk Lee referenced, Stallman poses a set of questions: “Who controls your computer? Is it you? Or is it some big company that is really controlling it?”
“Free software is the first battle in the liberation of cyberspace,” Stallman asserts, “Either the users control the program, or the program controls the users.”
Photo Credit: Framatube / Richard Stallman / TED Talk
It is this distinction that defines the difference between proprietary and free software. Stallman states that free software allows users to control the program through four essential freedoms.
Lee outlined these freedoms during our interview: “Freedom to run the program as you wish, freedom to study the source code of this program and change it, freedom to redistribute exact copies and give them away or sell them when you wish, and freedom to redistribute with modified copies.”
Photo Credit: Framatube / TED Talk
These freedoms are the foundation of the free software philosophy, leading to an experience where users have control and collaboration is fostered.
Lee said this is different from proprietary software, which can “dictate when you have access to your files, for example, if you haven’t paid, if you haven’t renewed your license, then they somehow deny your access to your own files on your own computer. That should never happen.”
Photo Credit: Jitsi Meet / Joe Lee
“When we buy a computer, and we’re running programs on it, those programs are instructions that the computer takes and then executes. If those instructions aren’t under our control, then we don’t control our computers,” Lee stated.
After Lee defined free software, he shared how attending a talk by Stallman inspired him to become a free software advocate in his community, where he has been a consistent voice at Livermore city council meetings.
At the Mar. 9 city council meeting, the council had to vote on whether to renew the city’s $1.5 Microsoft 365 contract. Lee attended the meeting and urged the council one last time to adopt free software alternatives like LibreOffice.
Photo Credit: YouTube / City of Livermore
Lee even suggested a compromise, “Maybe we could be even more conservative and migrate a quarter of our systems to LibreOffice and see how that works.”
While the council decided to renew the contract with Microsoft 365, many council members expressed openness to exploring free software alternatives.
When asked why he thought the city voted in favor of the Microsoft 365 contract renewal amidst their interest in free software, Lee shared, “I think the biggest worry that the city has is the switching cost of training the staff on how to use this new program.”
Although Lee understands this fear, he also pushed back and explained, “I have spent most of my free time helping either elderly people or very young people use free software.”
Lee said he’s been able to do this with relative ease and success.
Despite the Microsoft 365 contract renewal, Lee shared that the comments from the council gave him hope, “I was really happy that they even acknowledged that this was a possibility.”
“I think this is when I should keep being a pest about it, because I think it’s easy to forget. So I’ll keep going to city council meetings, and I’ll keep up the encouragement and the cheerleading because that’s all I see myself as, a cheerleader.”
Photo Credit: YouTube / City of Livermore
True to his word, Lee continues to champion free software in Livermore and volunteered his free software expertise at the latest city council meeting.
Lee is also hosting an event on Sunday, May 17, at the Livermore Public Library Community Room for those interested in learning about or advocating for the free software movement.
If you would like to add to or correct any information in this report, please contact me at mollyscheid7@gmail.com or leave a comment below.
0
0
Comments