Alternative Software

Open source has taken over the tech world. Over 64% of tech companies participate in open source, and many of the largest open source projects are behind the largest open source projects today. Over 90% of proprietary software incorporates open source software to some degree. Amidst the booming success of open source, lauded as a win-win for all, it can be difficult to remember where open source started: with hobbyists, enthusiasts, and an ideological commitment to free software.

Most, if not all, software you use incorporates features of open source. Programs that are open source, rather than “closed source,” are based on codes that are “open” on the internet; anyone anywhere can use, adapt, and contribute to them. Millions of contributors collaborate on fora such as Github, sending in suggestions to project maintainers who incorporate feedback to create better programs. This is usually unpaid labour, done in the free time of those who love programming.

But how is this profitable? It’s not, in a way.

Programmers contribute on their own accord because of curiosity, says Baran İşcanlı, an informatics student and employee at Machine Learning Programs (MLP). Most programmers who contribute to open source, do it from a place of enthusiasm. Tim Loderhose, another employee at MLP and contributor to a number of open source projects, says; “The idea is that if you write code and are passionate about it, in open source you can contribute to something greater - and, if they like it, other people may contribute to your own project as well!”

The idea of open source is based on mutual benefit; you let others use your code for free with the hope that others will contribute to it and make it better. Big tech has also realized these benefits; often open-source code can be more secure and  functional because of its large base of people who inspect the source. This doesn’t mean, however, that all programs produced from open source code are free. Most software companies add features or a functionality on top of open source code, which they then sell as proprietary software. In the realm of open source, this is fair game. Codes are made open source with the knowledge that they will be used and adapted elsewhere.

Things get more ambiguous when one considers the practice of “forking”. This happens when open source code is copied and then independently developed to create a new product. Loderhose cites the example of Elastic Search, which Amazon forked when it changed something about its software license. Forking is “not off limits”, according to Loderhose, but the obvious concern is that it’s a way for companies to profit off of open source code without necessarily contributing back to the community.

These freedoms include the freedom to run the program the way you want, the freedom to access the source code and change it, and the freedom to redistribute copies of the software and your modified versions of it to others.

Amidst questions of profitability, practicality, and mutual benefit, it is often forgotten where the open source movement came from: The Free Software Movement. The Free Software Movement was started by Richard Stallman, inventor of the GNU free software (often bundled with the open source giant Linux), as early as the 1980’s. It sees itself as a movement for freedom and justice that stands for the user’s essential freedoms when using software. These freedoms include the freedom to run the program the way you want, the freedom to access the source code and change it, and the freedom to redistribute copies of the software and your modified versions of it to others. It invented a number of software licences, such as the “Copyleft” licence, which requires anyone who uses the open source code to make anything built off of it open source, too.

Open source and the Free Software Movement have much in common, but open source is less marketable, focussing on mutual benefit rather than ethics. The Free Software movement, on the other hand, sees open code as an ethical imperative, and regards non-free software as a social problem. Richard Stallman said in a 2017 interview: “Every non-free program that you use gives somebody power over you. [...] Nowadays, it generates a system of unjust power, power for the program’s developer over the program’s users. Nobody should have that kind of power over anyone else.”

With our increasing dependence on technology, it is important to know what software we are using it and why. The benefit of using proprietary software to the user is comfort; they are easy to use without much knowledge of computers at all. But, as İşcanlı says, “when you choose to buy into convenience, this always comes with a catch.”

“When you choose to buy into convenience, this always comes with a catch.”

Much of the proprietary software you use on a daily basis is modified and altered through backdoors by the manufacturer, for example, by forced updates that make your software too heavy for your hardware to run it. Samsung and Apple, for example, are known to slow down phones through software updates. Companies simply interested in profit are able to decrease compatibility of the new software with old hardware. This way they steer consumers towards buying more and more. Using proprietary software as the default also comes at the cost of your privacy; the gargantuan extent to which our data is harvested every day is hardly niche knowledge. Richard Stallman implores us to ask the question, “Do you control the software that’s doing your computing or does it control you?”

There is much to learn from the Free Software Movement. As consumers we often heedlessly give up our freedoms and rights to privacy for a comfortable user experience. In the capitalist framework, we see this as a given. We assume that we need to exchange something in order to use something that someone else made. But what the Free Software Movement proves, and by extension the open source movement proves, is that communities can come together in the spirit of progress, of improvement, and curiosity to create things that benefit everyone and that can’t be taken away. What we often regard as intellectual property thus becomes everyone’s technical information. Information is endlessly distributable, malleable, and foundational. It is where innovation begins.

We assume that we need to exchange something in order to use something someone else made.

So, as a non-programmer, how can you start to support the free-software movement? Loderhose: “if you’re an average non-technical consumer, it would probably have to come from ethical and moral reasons.” It is easy to buy into usability and comfort while compromising your freedoms as a software user. On top of this, open source based programs come with a number of benefits. They can be more secure, as bugs and exploits are continually found and removed. You can also combat e-waste and make your old hardware work again; open source software is highly customizable to any appliance. And, open source software is superior for privacy; it doesn’t have the profit motive to collect and sell your data.

A big barrier between the general public and open source alternatives is basic tech knowledge. But it doesn’t take a computer genius to make steps towards software freedom. Look at the software you use every day and research if there are open source alternatives. Some examples of free software you can download right now are Shotcut for video editing, Blender for 3D editing, GIMP for photo editing, Mozilla Firefox for browsing, and LibreOffice for editing Word documents. The list goes on. Share this knowledge with your friends; the move to open source software alternatives to networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram is only possible if entire networks of people make the jump.

There are also other steps you can take to regain agency over your digital life. Research the “Right to Repair” movement, which demands the right for consumers to repair broken appliances and for the access to repair parts to do so. An example of this is the modular Fairphone, which allows you to easily swap out broken parts when needed. İşcanlı also warns against connecting home electronics to the internet; “you don’t need your toaster connected to the internet. These appliances run on very basic systems and can easily be hacked.” A good old-fashioned button or light switch can do the job.

“I believe It’s the right thing to do if you can, because a lot of positive effects stem from having popular software developed out in the open,” says Loderhose, adding that “open source is much more aligned with going further to a goal as a society.”


List of Open Source Alternatives:
• Text editor: Libre Office
• Audio editor: Audacity
• Video editor: Shotcut
• Image editors: Darkroom, GIMP
• Operating system: Linux (Try VirtualBox to try using Linux without actually installing it.)
• Browser: Brave, Mozilla Firefox
• Media Player: VLC Media Player
• 3D modelling: Blender
• Vector Image Creation: Inkscape
• Antivirus: ClamWin
• Notes app: Notepad ++
• Email manager: Thunderbird
• Password manager: Keepass
• Screenshot maker: Greenshot
• VPN: Psiphon
• Music playback: Amarok
• Search bar functionality: Everything