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Reforming-the-free-software-message.md (2221B)

    

  1. ---
  2. title: Reforming the free software message
  3. date: 2023-06-19
  4. ---
  6. Several weeks ago, I wrote [The Free Software Foundation is dying][0], wherein I
  7. enumerated a number of problems with the Free Software Foundation. Some of my
  8. criticisms focused on the message: fsf.org and gnu.org together suffer from no
  9. small degree of incomprehensibility and inaccessibility which makes it difficult
  10. for new participants to learn about the movement and apply it in practice to
  11. their own projects.
  13. [0]: https://drewdevault.com/2023/04/11/2023-04-11-The-FSF-is-dying.html
  15. This is something which is relatively easily fixed! I have a background in
  16. writing documentation and a thorough understanding of free software philosophy
  17. and practice. Enter [writefreesoftware.org]: a comprehensive introduction to
  18. free software philosophy and implementation.
  20. [writefreesoftware.org]: https://writefreesoftware.org
  22. The goals of this resource are:
  24. - Provide an accessible introduction to the most important principles of free
  25.   software
  26. - Offer practical advice on choosing free software licenses from a free software
  27.   perspective (compare to the OSS perspective at [choosealicense.com]).
  28. - Publish articles covering various aspects of free software in practice, such
  29.   as how it can be applied to [video games][1]
  31. [choosealicense.com]: https://choosealicense.com/
  32. [1]: https://writefreesoftware.org/blog/free-software-games/
  34. More:
  36. - No particular association with any particular free software project or organization
  37. - No policy of non-cooperation with the open source movement
  39. Compare [writefreesoftware.org] with the similar resources provided by GNU
  40. ([1][gnu-1], [2][gnu-2]) and you should get the general idea.
  42. [gnu-1]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-recommendations.html
  43. [gnu-2]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html
  45. The website is itself free software, CC-BY-SA 4.0. You can check out the [source
  46. code here](https://sr.ht/~sircmpwn/writefreesoftware.org/) and suggest any
  47. improvements or articles for the mailing list. Get involved! This resource is
  48. not going to solve all of the FSF's problems, but it is an easy way to start
  49. putting the effort in to move the free software movement forward. I hope you
  50. like it!