drones run linux: the free software movement isn't enough
2022-09-16


                  a printer,  a lab,  and  an actual hobbit
                           with an insane dream

richard stallman. rms. if you've spent time in tech, you may know his name. in
popular tabloid culture, he's painted as a sexist pedo - in 4chan-esque
dungeons, he's heralded as a savior.

in reality, he's a very flawed human that discovered something most of us never
will. a single cause to commit the rest of his entire life to.

rms has led the free software movement for 40 years. his asset is his flaw. he
is stubborn. extremely stubborn. absolutely unwilling to deviate, admit fault,
change, or back down. a staunch revolutionary on a blazing battleground. the
world will see free software as a moral right, and he will die fighting, no
matter what anyone says.



                     snakes in the hobbits den

but stallman is an old man now. the world moved on without him. he beats the
same war drum, but nobody is listening. groups of capital formed, and two
libertarians started the open source movement[1] as a corporate-friendly free
software alternative.

   and they won.

and won. and won. and won and won and fucking won. the accidental benefits of
the free software movement: a global community working asynchronously, sharing
code without pay. these important, critical benefits, which were responsible for
the absolute dominance of things like gcc, the gnu coreutils, and linux - have
been hopelessly devoured. all they had to do was strip away the pesky moral
movement that all of these efficiency gains carried with it - and voila. money.

most people who make open source software have probably never heard of stallman
or the free software movement.

all that remains is bootcamps, github, obscured javascript, and companies trying
to save as much money as possible by paying _nobody_ to produce the software
that they make millions from. and why not? it's free.

i believe that the free software movement is over, and that it has been over for
years. all that remains are a few men with grey beards, tattered war drums, and
a long line of allegations.

at the end of the day, the free software movement was colonized. and we tried to
save it.

                             and god. we tried.



      i thought i heard a plane, crashing
                but now i think it was your passion snapping

using non-free software is not a personal failing.  we only have so much time,
and it tick-tick-ticks.

nobody wants to use 10 year old thinkpads that can barely manage a youtube
video. why should my grandma learn about linux? i bought her an ipad, and she
understands it. her eyes are going. linux is not accessible. she's happier and
more connected to her family because of it.

i refused to use discord for years - but instead of furthering freedom, i hurt
myself. the severence of many meaningful relationships. most of my old friends
simply moved on without me. if you don't have vocal chords, people forget that
you exist.

you might say they probably weren't real friends if they forgot about me so
easily. but they were real to me. try it yourself, and see what happens.

ultimately, my stubborn resistance made no difference.

most people don't care about the free software movement. the benefits
are vague, and the consequences are life-changing.
you lose touch with friends and family.
it takes a lot more time and energy to navigate. to bank. to find
restaurants or activities, looking at things to buy.
tracking your calendar. doing your taxes.
living.

eventually, you will realize that it's not worth it. you'll start using
software that eases your life, and you'll question whether all of this
denial was worth it.

i cancelled my FSF membership, after 10 years of faithful support.



all of that fighting
all of that denial, resisting temptation.
war drums, freedom,
coding, sharing,
friends, love,

   after all of that,

        after everything,



                     predator drones
                 .-.    _,  .-.  ,_    .-.
                '-._'--'  \_| |_/  '--'_.-'
                    '-._  \ | | /  _.-'
                        `-.^| |^.-'
                           `\=/`
                             ` run linux














i don't know what comes next, but i'm seeing hopeful energy.

my eyes are on permacomputing[2], a new movement that's
still being defined.

my hope is that it values simplicity, morality, and community
and not technicality, licenses, and purism.



              love,
                jes



                credits
      <3    <3    <3    <3    <3
 
this is my love letter to all of the people and projects
that have inspired my ideology over the years.

here you are.

rekka bellum and devine lu linvega
for living, sharing, and believing with absolute ferocity.
for being fearless.
https://100r.co/site/home.html

forest johnson
for seeing the best in everybody. for driving towards
a better world with such intent and fire. for opening
up his entire soul. a font of endless spirit.
https://sequentialread.com

drew devault
for building a company with stern morality. for speaking up.
for never giving up. for leading.
https://drewdevault.com

f0x
for listening closely and honestly, for committing so much
of their life to everyone's safety.
https://cthu.lu

joe nelson
for taking active interest, for listening, for inspiring, and
for ideating.
https://begriffs.com

herman martinus
for sharing your life and work with such honesty.
https://herman.bearblog.dev

gabe kangas
for passionately building a workable, friendly alternative
to one of the most hostile platforms on the planet.
https://gabekangas.com

jesse li
for thinking hard about why software is philisophical. for not
giving into contempt.
https://blog.jse.li

derek sivers
for inspiring, and talking to me.
https://sive.rs

ckie
for being playful and curious, and emailing me when i was in the
middle of some very hard times.
https://ckie.dev

reese
for diving in head-first and selflessly giving their
energy.
https://reese.ovine.xyz

vvesley
for kind listening, caring speech, and a compassionate spirit.
vim budz.
https://www.vvesley.me

starless
for seeing my vision, caring relentlessly, and helping to build
so much.

and obviously, everyone in cyberia.club and layer zero:
zico, aimless, carbide, sanine, fack, freekurt,
queerposting, hemant, christorson, karlexceed,
nyaoori, techieb0y, jeremyrand, aynish,
symys, bavier, louisg, everyone ~


you are all revolutionaries.




[1]: https://opensource.org/history
[2]: https://permacomputing.net