Free Culture, Free Society

In discussing free culture and free society three keywords were identified: community; collaboration; and choice. These concepts were presented in relation to computers and the internet. To understand how they relate with computers and the internet a brief history into computer programming and source codes was needed. In the early days of computer programming, the creators would share programs freely. It was a smaller community of people than it is today and these communities were normally based at universities. By collaborating on programs, different writers could contribute and make programs better. To do this, access to the source code of the program was required (the source code is like a recipe for a computer program). Access to the source code was readily available because program writers didn't withhold this information. This collaboration and community of software sharing was later called FLOSS - Free/Libre, Open Source Software. This pleasant community of code writers was interrupted by the monster known as 'Proprietary Software'. Some examples of proprietary software or companies that own the software are: Microsoft, Macromedia and Apple.

The interruption by more business minded people changed the culture of program writers. People began to realise they could make money by restricting access to the source code and making people pay for the program. Altering the source code became restricted because program writers didn't want people tampering with their creations. Richard M Stallman opposed this business minded and money making culture and started up the Free Software Foundation in 1981. This later became known as Open Source software. Stallman's goal was to create a completely free operating system to facilitate Opensource software that people could collaborate on and improve. The idea of collaboration amongst computer programmers could then be restored. Stallman's operating system is known as GNU. One main concept behind Stallman's creation was the idea of 'choice'. We shouldn't have to be dictated to by Microsoft and Apple. Having another option like GNU now enables us to break out of the Microsoft/Apple mould. It gives the sense of community, collaboration and choice back.