A new wave of freedom
May 10-23, 2008, V. Sasi Kumar, Frontline.
This article provides an excellent introduction to the free software movement. It begins by explaining how, with the spread of computing, software became a commodity for which the users had to pay, unlike the initial days when it was available for free. The free software movement emerged as a powerful global response to this. The movement has influenced not just the way software is produced and used, but also the way scientific output is disseminated. The business sector also seems to have imbibed the spirit of the movement with some companies already taking steps to make their processes transparent. The author suggests that proprietary software replicates the old process of colonisation through virtual control of much of world's knowledge. Against this, the free software movement is posited as the harbinger of freedom.