[ Ubuntu-BD ] Can we rescue OLPC from Windows?

[Omi]

Can we rescue OLPC from Windows?



 by Richard Stallman

 I read Negroponte's statement presenting the OLPC XO as a platform for
 Windows in the most ironic circumstances possible: during a week of
 preparing, under a deadline, to migrate personally to an XO.

 I made this decision for one specific reason: freedom. The IBM T23s
 that I have used for many years are adequate in practice, and the
 system and applications running on them are entirely free software,
 but the BIOS is not. I want to use a laptop with a free software BIOS,
 and the XO is the only one.

 The XO's usual software load is not 100% free; it has a non-free
 firmware program to run the wireless chip. That means I cannot fully
 promote the XO as it stands, but it was easy for me solve that problem
 for my own machine: I just deleted that file. That made the internal
 wireless chip inoperative, but I can do without it.

 As always happens, problems arose, which delayed the migration until
 last week. On Friday, when I discussed some technical problems with
 the OLPC staff, we also discussed how to save the future of the
 project.

 Some enthusiasts of the GNU/Linux system are extremely disappointed by
 the prospect that the XO, if it is a success, will not be a platform
 for the system they love. Those who have supported the OLPC project
 with their effort or their money may well feel betrayed. However,
 those concerns are dwarfed by what is at stake here: whether the XO is
 an influence for freedom or an influence for subjection.

 Since the OLPC was first announced we have envisioned it as a way to
 lead millions of children around the world to a life in which they do
 computing in freedom. The project announced its intention to give
 children a path to learn about computers by allowing them to study and
 tinker with the software. It may yet do that, but there is a danger
 that it will not. If most of the XOs that are actually used run
 Windows, the overall effect will be the opposite.

 Proprietary software keeps users divided and helpless. Its functioning
 is secret, so it is incompatible with the spirit of learning. Teaching
 children to use a proprietary (non-free) system such as Windows does
 not make the world a better place, because it puts them under the
 power of the system's developer -- perhaps permanently. You might as
 well introduce the children to an addictive drug. If the XO turns out
 to be a platform for spreading the use of proprietary software, its
 overall effect on the world will be negative.

 It is also superfluous. The OLPC has already inspired other cheap
 computers; if the goal is only to make cheap computers available, the
 OLPC project has succeeded whether or not more XOs are built. So why
 build more XOs? Delivering freedom would be a good reason.

 The project's decision is not final; the free software community must
 do everything possible to convince OLPC to continue being (aside from
 one firmware package) a force for freedom.

 Part of what we can do is offer to help with the project's own free
 software. OLPC hoped for contribution from the community to its
 interface, Sugar, but this has not happened much. Partly that's
 because OLPC has not structured its development so as to reach out to
 the community for help -- which means, when viewed in constructive
 terms, that OLPC can obtain more contribution by starting to do this.

 Sugar is free software, and contributing to it is a good thing to do.
 But don't forget the goal: helpful contributions are those that make
 Sugar better on free operating systems. Porting to Windows is
 permitted by the license, but it isn't a good thing to do.

 I am typing these words on the XO. As I travel and speak in the coming
 weeks, I will point to it in my speeches to raise this issue.
 ________________________________


 Copyright 2008 Richard Stallman
  Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are
 permitted worldwide without royalty in any medium provided this notice
 is preserved.

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