Safe as Milk

Freedom is not having to ask permission

August 29, 2005 2:19 pm Dave Neary General

I have been thinking lately about why I do free software. Why do I spend so much time on a computer, rather than relaxing with the family after work? In general terms, why are we here?

The most important thing about GNOME (and the GIMP) is its community. It’s about being among friends. But communities don’t just materialise – they come together around ideas and goals.

So I found myself asking the question – what is the goal of the GNOME community? What is my goal?

Is it the software? GNOME’s great, but it’s not something I get orgasmic about. It’s not as easy to use or pleasant an experience as Mac OS X, say.

How about giving people cost-free software, is that the thing that keeps me ticking? It’s free, but that’s not what has me spending my evenings on the phone or at the computer. In fact, most users think that Mac OS and Windows are free too – since they come with the computer. Most people really don’t give a shit that we’re providing cost-free software.

There are a few things that keep me here. But the most important one is freedom. The freedom of the user, yes, but even more importantly, my freedom.

When I started working on free software (fixing GIMP bugs and helping out with gnect) in 1999, I wasn’t a very good programmer. And at work, I didn’t get the chance to improve. That would have been a promotion, and in spite of asking, I didn’t get it. I hadn’t proved myself.

Free software opened its arms to me. I learned more than I thought possible – learned how to code C properly, learned about GTK+, callbacks, idle loops. Finally had the penny drop on linked lists, binary trees, and a bunch of other elementary stuff that I suppose people learn in college. Mastered debuggers, source control, bug tracking… the list goes on. Anything I wanted to learn, I was free to do so.

It took me a while to figure things out, though – those early bug fixes, I used to feebly pipe up “anyone mind if I go ahead and fix this?” It took me about a couple of months to realise that I could just go right ahead – if something wasn’t getting done, it was up for grabs. And I grabbed with both hands.

Time moved on. Who cares if I had no marketing experience? I’ll learn it. So I joined the GNOME marketing team. No administration experience? Well, the GIMP needed someone to organise a conference, and no-one jumped. I said it sounds like fun. Fell into being the GIMP release manager, joined the GNOME board, organised a GUADEC or two.

All along, the thing that struck me was that apart from a couple of cases, I never had to ask permission. I was free to explore my own limits and no-one jumped up to say “You can’t do that”.

Free software fills a void in my professional life. Free software taught me that I could learn and grow without someone telling me that I could.

Freedom is not having to ask permission.