Lessons Using Linux and Other Free Software Taught Me
This year marks my 20th anniversary of using Linux. I discovered it when applying for a position at a startup called Stormix Technologies. Stormix long ago had its moment of glory and flamed out, but working for it left me a dedicated Linux user. I didn’t know at the time, but my entire relationship to computing changed permanently as a result.
To begin with, it’s been sixteen years since I bought a piece of software — and that was reluctantly, in order to complete work for a client. It’s been even longer since I was tempted to pirate software. Both facts imply the same thing: unlike most computer users, I stopped being a consumer of software. What I became instead was part of an ecosystem of users, and a potential partner in development if I chose to be. These days, purchasing and pirating software alike seem like a quaint custom of the past, like cranking a car before driving. I look with pity on those who purchase or pirate, regarding them as unnecessarily trapped in a toxic relationship.
Having stopped consuming software, I also changed my relationship with the manufacturers of software. As a consumer, I had almost no contact with those who wrote the software I used. Mostly, I would get news of updates (read: another chance to spend money). If I ran into troubles, I might contact technical support, and more often than not, endure being asked a series of obvious questions while I fumed with impatience waiting to be given a fix. Tinkering on my own was forbidden by license, and mostly impossible since I had no access to the source code.
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