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+---
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+title: Free software to save the world
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+#date:
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+#description:
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+tags: ['free' 'software' 'foss' 'ethics']
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+draft: true
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+---
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+
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+During the past few years, I've been focused on free software a lot. At first, it
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+seemed to me like a weird thing for hippies and hipsters (which it still is for
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+most people, let's not deny it).
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+
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+A couple of years later (which is around now), I've became quite involved in free
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+software communities. I have a few diverse contributions to my counter, and I'm
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+currently working at [CozyCloud](https://cozy.io), after a quick (but intense)
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+internship at [Matrix.org](https://matrix.org) (as you might have guessed, both
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+work on free software projects). And this world doesn't cease to amaze me.
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+
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+Now I guess some readers don't know what free software is, or might not understand
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+some expressions I'll be using in this post (plus I'm really stubborn in my way
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+to use them, ask my flatmate). So here's a quick recap. Please note that I'll be
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+talking about free **software** in this post, but most of my points also applies
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+to resources (images, videos, documentation, etc.) published in the same terms as
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+free software.
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+
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+## Terminology
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+
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+* **Free software**: The "free" in "free software" is the same one as in "freedom".
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+Free software is software distributed under a *free license*, which is a license
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+allowing the 4 freedoms of free software: the freedom to run the program for any
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+purpose, the freedom to study how it works and adapt it to your needs, the freedom
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+to redistribute it, and the freedom to improve it and publicly release your
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+improvements.
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+* **Open-source software**: There's a lot of discussion on the meaning of this
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+expression. For some it's the same as free software, for others it's not. I call "open-source software" all software that isn't distributed a free license but
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+allows the public access to its source code.
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+* **FOSS**: An acronym meaning "Free and Open-Source Software".
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+* **Proprietary software**: Usually refers to software that isn't free.
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+<!-- Maybe add some stuff here as writing the post goes -->
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+
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+## A short history of free software
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+
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+There was a time, at the dawn of programming, where programmers and hackers,
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+researchers and curious people, were all living and working in harmony (kind of).
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+Everyone was discovering the powers of a computer and sharing their discoveries
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+and source codes with the others.
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+
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+In the early 80s, however, this
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+[hacker culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_culture) was in decline, as
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+programmers and manufacturers progressively stopped distributing the source code of
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+their programs and started using copyright and restrictive software licenses.
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+
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+Meanwhile, in a MIT lab, a grumpy hippie named
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+[Richard Matthew Stallman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman), still
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+found of [hacker ethic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_ethic), struggles
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+with the lab's printer. It has paper jam issues, and lacks some cool features
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+Stallman hacked into the previous one. So he emails the printer's manufacturer,
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+Xerox, asking for the source code so he could add his changes to it, which Xerox
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+denied.
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+
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+This made Stallman realise the hacker culture was disappearing, and made him
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+realise he had to take actions before it was too late.
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+
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+In 1983, Stallman creates the [GNU](https://www.gnu.org/) project which aims at
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+replacing the (mostly) proprietary [Unix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix).
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+Shortly after that, he even quits from the MIT to work full time on it. A couple
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+of years later, he creates the [Free Software Foundation](https://www.fsf.org/)
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+with the mission to create a legal structure for free software.
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+
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+These two projects will serve as the base of what free software is today, by
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+providing the [GNU licenses](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/), which are a set of
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+free licenses, and by creating the GNU/Linux operating system (which is often
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+[abbreviated](https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html#why) as only "Linux"),
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+built on top of the Linux kernel, and which is currently the most used operating
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+system in the world.
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