Richard Stallman wasn’t just instrumental in the creation of Linux, he’s the founder of the free software movement that has been trying to turn people away from proprietary software for decades. According to an opinion piece he wrote for the Guardian, if software isn’t distributed free of charge then it’s malware, plain and simple. He claims that operating systems like Android, iOS, Windows, and many more were designed to spy on them and lock them down with DRM. He’s an interesting person with interesting points, and this piece is certainly worth the read.
In 1983, when I started the free software movement, malware was so rare that each case was shocking and scandalous. Now it’s normal. To be sure, I am not talking about viruses. Malware is the name for a program designed to mistreat its users. Viruses typically are malicious, but software products and software preinstalled in products can also be malicious – and often are, when not free/libre. In 1983, the software field had become dominated by proprietary (ie nonfree) programs, and users were forbidden to change or redistribute them. I developed the GNU operating system, which is often called Linux, to escape and end that injustice. But proprietary developers in the 1980s still had some ethical standards: they sincerely tried to make programs serve their users, even while denying users control over how they would be served. How far things have sunk. Developers today shamelessly mistreat users; when caught, they claim that fine print in EULAs (end user licence agreements) makes it ethical. (That might, at most, make it lawful, which is different.) So many cases of proprietary malware have been reported, that we must consider any proprietary program suspect and dangerous. In the 21st century, proprietary software is computing for suckers.
