The Software Freedom That Matters

We all need to trust someone else to control our computers for us. Even if you are the best programmer in the world, you wouldn't have time to make all the software you need on your own.

In any reasonably free market, the consumers can choose who makes the products they use. Even if no one you like is making the product you need, you could at least theoretically start making it yourself.

Does that sound reasonable? We could write it into law. Let's do that! It would have great consequences for software users; it would mean:

• You would be able to use, modify and share your software freely, because you can choose to have it made by someone who gives you those freedoms.
• You would be able to have total control over your computer, because you would have to be able to choose all the software that runs in it.
• All consumer-facing communication protocols need to be open, so that anyone can make the software that uses them.
• The web would be usable without running arbitrary scripts hidden in pages, because those scripts circumvent the user's freedom to choose their software.

It is late, but never too late, to give software users this freedom, that they should have always had.