Open Warrior

When I first got news of the Nokia Music Store in South Africa I was really excited – finally an online music store which would allow me to buy local content without needing to have iTunes, because as a Linux user iTunes just isn’t an option. One day I was walking on campus and people were handing out pamphlets with information about the Nokia Music Store and how one can use it to buy music. I read the pamphlet and my excitement about the Nokia Music Store dropped to complete disappointment. There were two main reasons for this:

1. The music is in WMA format and makes use of DRM – this effectively means that I can’t play it on any operating system other than Microsoft Windows and that I can’t put it on my iPod. This alone renders the service completely unuseable to me.
2. The Nokia Music Store website only works with Internet Explorer. According to Net Applications, Internet Explorer accounts for about 66% of browser use on the Internet. By only supporting Internet Explorer, Nokia effectively prevents about 34% of their potential market from accesing their site.

The two issues mentioned above basically render the Nokia Music Store useless to computer users like me who don’t use Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer. I’m a big fan of Nokia and the work that they do, though I really believe they got it wrong with their online music store. Either way, I can only hope that they’re aware of this and are working towards improving the service so that all computer users can make use of it without the restrictions.

For the last few weeks I’ve had to use Microsoft Windows for a computer science project and being a GNU/Linux user this was something which I wasn’t really looking forward to. However, using Windows while being around Windows users has taught me something about what is considered acceptable when it comes to software.

If you’re not a GNU/Linux (or OS X) user then you’ll probably have no idea of what I’m alluding to so I’ll just lay it out…software crashes. Software crashes are a natural part of software use as it’s almost impossible to create software which is completely bug free. However, I’m not talking simply about the fact that software crashes, but rather about the frequency at which it happens and the overall effect that it has on the operation of a computer.

And this brings me to the point of this post – Windows crashes all the time, brining the system to a complete halt, and it’s considered okay! “Just restart” is the most common response I get from Windows users when I tell them Windows has crashed. I find this completely unacceptable – when a user pays over R1000 for an operating system, the user should demand an operating system which is stable and secure. The notion of formatting a harddrive and reinstalling Windows as a means of fixing a problem is completely absurd.

In no way am I saying that GNU/Linux is without it problems – it definitely has it’s fair share. However, GNU/Linux crashes with only a fraction of the frequency that Windows does and when it does crash the crashes rarely result in an unusable system. Also, the idea of reinstalling to fix a problem is unheard of.

Windows users consider all the problems associated with Windows to be problems associated with computing, when in fact this is in no way true. Computing is supposed to increase efficiency, not lead to problems which usually result in data loss which in turn can result in the loss of hundreds of thousand of Rands. The poor state of Windows is in no way acceptable, and paying users should stand up and demand quality software, and if they cannot be provided with quality software then they should look to start using alternatives.

Note: If this post is somewhat loaded, it’s just my frustration at having to use crappy software for the last few weeks.

For those of you who don’t know, Linux distribution Linspire has signed a deal with Microsoft.

The deal, like Novell and Xandros before it includes office document compatibility, instant messaging interoperability and collaboration on digital media. Again the big ticket part of the deal inlcudes patent covenants from Microsoft for customers operating the Linspire desktop.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/06/14/linspire-joins-microsofts-any-one-but-red-hat-group/

The official letter released by Linspire is available here:
http://www.linspire.com/linspire_letter.php

I’ve been thinking about this issue quite a bit today. My first reaction, like many others, was negative. However, I’ve put a bit more thought into it and now see how it can benefit the linux community while still staying true to open source philosophies (if not in the short run, then at least in the long run).

I have no doubt that including proprietary software in linux distributions will allow for better integration with proprietary systems and software, thereby increasing linux’s market share. Now that’s all very good, but I don’t think the community’s outcry is about market share. It’s more about denying users their freedom and “giving in to the enemy,” an argument which I believe to be valid. However, in my experience most first time linux users aren’t that concerned about their freedom. Usually they’re just fed up with Windows and are looking for an alternative, as was the case for me. But as people start using linux and free software (as in free speech), they start to understand the values of free software. Slowly these ideals grow in the mind of the free software user, and (hopefully) eventually turn them into free software advocates.

I believe that as long as there are movements such as the Free Software Foundation and linux distributions which remain true to open source philosophies (as I suspect debian always will), there will always be a truly free option when it comes to computing. And new users who come to believe that freedom in software is important, will ensure that the open source philosophies live on.

From my observations free software adoption usually follows a timeline which goes something like:
1. Use proprietary software
2. Use a mixture of proprietary software and free software
3. Start to understand the value of free software.
4. Switch to only free software and encourage others to use it and contribute to the community.

Deals such as those that commercial linux vendors make with Microsoft speed up the transition from only proprietary software use to a mixture of free software and proprietary software. Thereby speeding up the adoption of only free software.

Of course, there is always the risk that in the future the pool of free software users that believe in and encourage the free software philosophy will become diluted by those who know nothing of it. In the event that this happens people will stop seeing the need for open source software and start developing only proprietary software. Yet once again, the free software movement will pick up as remaining free software advocates fight for software freedom, and the cycle will repeat itself. Hopefully though, free software advocates will be successful in preventing this scenario from ever taking place.