Episode Information
Richard Stallman
When you turned on your computer today, it was likely running Microsoft's Windows as the operating system (okay...maybe it's an Apple) and your computing experience was shaped by the dozens of proprietary programs pre-installed on it's hard drive. Big corporations control how you listen to music, how you search the web, how you work, surf and play online. To most computer users, the reaction is - what's my choice? It's kinda like when you could only buy cars from three big American companies...surely, competition will change all that.
But those involved in the "free software" movement reject this idea. They say all software should be free - not as in "without cost" - but as in "without restrictions." In their world, copyrights and corporate secrets are gone, replaced by a community that works together to innovate, solve problems, and create a better computing environment for everyone.
Today, where we live - a look at the free software movement. Coming up, we'll find out how even Microsoft is getting in on the game.
But first, we'll talk to Richard Stallman. He's the founder of the Free Software Foundation - and he developed the GNU/Linux operating system. He was in Hartford for a talk at Trinity College.
Join the conversation! Add your suggestions, questions or comments below.
NOTE: At the request of Richard Stallman, his portion of Where We Live will only be available in Ogg format. Click Here to download this interview
Read more about Ogg format. Excerpt from www.gnu.org:
We distribute our audio files in Ogg Vorbis format. We avoid MP3, because it is impeded by software patents in some countries. The Ogg Vorbis format is technologically superior to MP3, and is not encumbered by patents. The sound quality of speech recordings on this page is not indicative of the quality you could expect from Ogg Vorbis when applied to HiFi audio.
Please avoid transcoding HiFi audio from MP3 to Ogg Vorbis. By doing so, you will create Ogg Vorbis files of a lower sound quality than the original MP3. Instead, please encode to Ogg Vorbis directly from the uncompressed
source.Vorbis.com provides a list of audio software and hardware (such as portable players) which support the ogg vorbis format. The Ogg Vorbis project is part of the Xiph.org project, where you will find the project development page and source code..
The ogg vorbis files available here have been made using an encoder released in March 2001. This encoder probably provides inferior sound quality to the latest codec, but does provide compatability both with very old and new decoders. If you have any trouble playing an ogg file, please ensure your player/ plugin/ library is a release of April 2001 or later.
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For more information on Ogg, visit Wikipedia
Doug Hayden's Comment on Reciprocal Licenses
Hi Doug -
The comments you are responding to in your post concerning the GPL were actually made by a caller, not by me.
As you say, reciprocal licenses (like the GPL) do impose a requirement to contribute back changes if you re-distribute code; but they do not impose a categorical ban on using software to make money.
Regards,
Bryan Kirschner
Director of Open Source Strategy
Microsoft
http://microsoft.com/opensource
email to wherewelive@wnpr.org
for the first time i have turned off the radio during your show because the attitude of your guest was so offensive it pained me to listen. he sounded like a lot of the people i have to deal with everyday in my business and i was listening for a break from that stress.
who knows if his information is worthwhile, i never will.
i felt bad for you.
best regards,
barbara
email to wherewelive@wnpr.org
A short time ago I read that the country of Brazil has gone to open source for all their government owned computers. I then heard that Bill Gates went there to discuss the situation. I presume that he probably doesn’t like this (-: Maybe you might mention this to get some discussion on it.
I presently have a Microsoft system and it is always “updating”. It neither tells me what the update will do not will it give me any option to accept it or not. OTOH, I am not sure they will be honest enough to actually tell me what it is doing and they can also claim that a previous version must be accepted in order for a new one to be installed even if I had the choice.
Gary Sutcliff
email to wherewelive@wnpr.org
I hate to say this, but it appears that you didn’t prepare or research the topic thoroughly enough.
The Microsoft representative has made material mis-statements about open-source and the GNU, and you could easily have learned enough to call him on it.
For example, the claim that modifying code, or using it to make money, is forbidden by the GPL. THIS IS COMPLETELY UNTRUE. The GPL gives you the right to modify software and use it to your heart's content for your own internal company purposes. Google does that, it's believed.
What the GPL forbids is *re-distribution* of any changes made, whether for a profit or not, without including a copy of the program distributed WITH YOUR CHANGES INCLUDED.
Please get the facts straight. Microsoft is conducting a dis-information campaign and you're playing right into it.
Sincerely,
Doug Hayden
email to wherewelive@wnpr.org
Hi,
I really wanted to get on the show today and share my experience
regarding Open Source software.
Recently I was told by a friend about a laptop he got with pre-installed Linux. I believe that my doubts and questions were similar to most people hearing about Open Source for the first time:
1. How do I install it, and do I have the expertise to do it?
2. How do I choose from the tremendous number of Open Source programs what to install? I was told there are over 23,000 Open Source programs to choose from.
3. Will it work in my existing Windows network and what do I do with my Office files?
My friend told me about pre-installed Open Source. Not knowing much about it, I searched the Internet and came across TITAN which is a line of laptops and desktops with pre-installed Linux. As I read about it I realized that this line of computers addressed all of my concerns.
Moreover, since the Linux operating system is much leaner than Vista, the hardware requirements were much lower and so was the price of the computer.
So I decided to jump into the cold water and I got my daughter a TITAN laptop. What was nice about it is that it was ready for use right out of the box. We didn't need to install any software or tinker with settings. The amazing part is that the operating system running this laptop (TITAN LEV) is configured to look just like Windows XP with the same appearance, menu structure and file formats. My daughter started using it immediately with no problems, and after a few days she exclaimed "wow daddy, this is actually a pretty cool computer". I guess there is an alternative out there for people who want to use Open Source, but were afraid to do so up until now. If you are interested, their web address is www.titanlaptop.com