Thread: Software in backened

What about developers who while using a lot of free software in the backend, release their products as proprietary software?

Well, that is unjust. Any proprietary program means that there is a user who doesn't have freedom. There is no excuse for this. Users should refuse to get subjugated in this way. They accept it because of the short-term thinking-"I want to do this now, and the only way I can do this now is to let this developer have power over me So, what is to be done? Well, that depends on whether I am thinking short-term or long-term.

The free software movement has made it even easier to choose freedom. When I started the movement 25 years ago, the only way I could have freedom was through developing an operating system and that was going to take years. If I were thinking short term, I would have said: "Oh, it's so far ahead. I give up!", and I would have let the developer of the proprietary software have power over me the same way everyone else was doing. But instead I thought long term, and I thought: "Yes, it would take years, but it is worth it!" Today, we have free operating systems, we have thousands of free applications, and as a result, choosing freedom doesn't require you to work for many years any more. Now, at most, it requires an inconvenience every so often.