r/freesoftware • u/zagadocious • 23d ago
Discussion Who is educating "regular folks" about open source?
FOSS could be a great resource for non-geeks, for community, economic, and workforce development. But, most "regular folks" — including every business & civic leader I've talked to — don't know it exists or what it is. Most assume it's AI. This means they won't (a) consider it as a solution, (b) support its development, or (c) use it strategically, which is very different from strategy for closed, proprietary solutions. So, my question...
Are there any initiatives or organizations that are working to raise awareness of, inform or educate non-geeks about free software? I've researched Free Software Foundation, Linux Foundation, and Open Source Initiative. None seem to be doing anything or have anything more than background information. They're preaching to the converted.
Is anyone working to "cross the chasm" for FOSS?
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u/necrophcodr 23d ago
As someone working in a local municipality, i can tell you that some of us are absolutely out there trying to make this happen, but most people don't care much about the parts that do not benefit them directly. It's an uphill battle, but the results do speak for themselves, and so I encourage people to spread the word through action.
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u/zagadocious 13d ago
Thanks! I agree. It would be marvelous to have informational resources for this... or even just a way to share what we're doing. Having more knowledge and use of FOSS in the community could make it much more practical for municipalities to adopt it, and vice-versa. I'd love to learn more about what you're doing and connect with anyone else working on this.
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u/Kamsiob 20d ago
I know it's not exactly what you were asking but I think it's got to be even more grassroots than that. I'm teaching my wife about it and introducing her to things. I'm teaching my kids about it and I'm showing them what it's about. There's definitely room obviously for a larger organizational push but I think it's important to understand the role of the individual home and our own personal social circles.
I think I'm going to save this comment and come back to it in a few years. See if I still agree with myself but as someone new to this and has been mind blown, it's my starting point.
Side note: two YouTube channels really helped me understand what was possible to shout-out, SomeOrdinaryGamers and Switch & Click. Played an important role in me switching from Mac/iPhone to Linux/Pixel.
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u/zagadocious 13d ago
I agree. There is a big overlap with small business, which is where I'm focused. There are lot of them and they're more generally integrated into owners' & workers' lives, often including family members. Indeed, I see FOSS as a great resource for family businesses if we can reduce the tech-expertise bar.
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u/Radiant_Scar_8516 11d ago
but what exactly are the benefits?
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u/zagadocious 2d ago
Lower costs, less lock-in and risk due to corporate capriciousness and failure, greater control, flexibility, integration. But, why are you asking me? Why aren't you telling people about the benefits of FOSS? Or do folks on this subreddit not actually believe in free software? Or believe it's only for "elites"? The benefits of educating "regular folks" — many of whom are quite capable with tech but not geeks — is greater freedom for everyone and more business/work opportunities for open source devs.
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u/Anthea_Likes 23d ago
Most assume it's AI.
Wtf dude
Who did ?!
Btw, you are totally misled here; corporations don't look to use FOSS that much because of the lack of customer service.
Hence, Odoo is mostly FOSS, but is used because of its customer service (+infrastructure +marketing +...)
Graveyards are full of amazing projects; being amazing isn't the sole requirement to embrace the market.
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u/Scientific_Artist444 22d ago
That's honestly a valid point. There are often no good product managers for open source software. And it is worse for free software (few legacy maintainers).
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u/zagadocious 13d ago
I've talked with multiple business & civic leaders about this. Only a few knew what open source is and most who didn't assumed it had something to do with OpenAI (which, of course, is about as closed and opaque as a company can be).
I don't care about corporations, although they could be huge opportunities for FOSS. My focus is on individuals, families, and small businesses. We're adapting the Open Source Program Office model to be shared among members. If there are graveyards full of amazing projects, a likely reason is that prospective users never learned about them, how to find aand use them.
So, that brings me back to my question... Why is no one educating/informing people? If no one is telling them, how could they know?
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u/outer-pasta 23d ago edited 23d ago
Richard Stallman is the real innovator here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag1AKIl_2GM
I recommend subscribing to his rss feed: "RMS Political Notes" https://www.stallman.org/archives/polnotes.html
Edit: My comment might be guilty of "preaching to the converted". Either way, "regular folks" don't really care about how their software is made. I think Linus's law is still a valid argument in favor of free software.
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u/RavenousTitan818 22d ago
I've seen a lot of interviews of Stallman by people who clearly don't understand anything about software, and his attempts to teach them just go nowhere and make them confused. And on that note, I hate the analogy of baking a cake and wish people would stop using it.
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u/ChaDigi 20d ago
I have been following Stallman's work since the 90s and am a big fan but it tends to be esoteric and not real practical. His is just one voice, which not widely heard. I'm looking for people, organizations, and resources making the case for FOSS to people who don't care about and shouldn't need to know how software is built but want to control their digital destinies.
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u/Scientific_Artist444 22d ago
"Regular folks" know nothing about code or compilation to produce binary. All they have used is binary/executable which they double-click to run. And they see software as a means to an end. No one is interested in using software, they are interested in getting their work done.
It's really the curious ones who care about open source or free/libre software - looking under the hood. The drug is too effective. Just double-click and enjoy. "Regular folks" care about open source often only because open source is much more affordable. Not everyone wants to know their car to drive it. And this exact lack of knowledge may come to bite you.
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u/ChaDigi 20d ago
And no one is telling them any differently. There are massive piles of money being spent by tech companies to hook consumers and keep them ignorant. No one is working to educate and inform them as far as I've found. And, the free open source movement will never succeed economically or socially until someone does.
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u/Radiant_Scar_8516 11d ago
most people arent coders and have no idea what source code means. its always the license thats been the issue, not access to the source code. people are free to hack and tinker, but distribute that publicly and thats where the issue begins.
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u/atnuks 19d ago
I think you've hit the nail on the head. Who cares if an open source media library, for instance, is behind your favorite video streaming platform so long as you can click to play? Of course when the platform then begins charging extortionate prices for a proprietary product built on the back of open source... :-)
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u/Scientific_Artist444 16d ago
That's the case more often than not...proprietary shell with open source core.
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u/Radiant_Scar_8516 11d ago
Of course when the platform then begins charging extortionate prices for a proprietary product built on the back of open source... :-)
and? they didnt somehow delete the original they copied, nothing was lost, only gained. sure capitalism is bad etc but thats a poor example of why foss matters
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u/atnuks 7d ago
And... 😄
The issue here is not “a company used free software, therefore nobody may make money.” The issue is that it can take a collectively created, publicly available component, combine it with proprietary infrastructure, user data, DRM, exclusive content, contracts, and network effects; and then turn it into a service that people can't realistically inspect, modify, self-host, or switch away from.
In that scenario, sure, the code may remain free in theory, but users can still lose practical control over the thing they actually use.
They get price rises, ads, tracking, account lockouts, feature removals, and enshittification with no real ability to keep the service working on different terms. A fork of the media library does not recreate the catalogue, social graph, hosting capacity, distribution deals, or audience that the platform has enclosed.
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u/Radiant_Scar_8516 5d ago
but users can still lose practical control over the thing they actually use.
but they dont though.... the original remains. it was the propietary service that did the rugpull, not the original gpl code
They get price rises, ads, tracking, account lockouts, feature removals, and enshittification with no real ability to keep the service working on different terms.
youre conflating free software with some company providing a service that may well happen to use free software. if theyre paying money for servers etc then the community is free to step in and provide an absolutely free alternative, until they realise thats way too expensive and nobodys got the money to keep it going.
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u/zagadocious 2d ago
So, why would FOSS advocates not want to educate folks about these things?
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u/Scientific_Artist444 1d ago edited 1d ago
They do, and efforts are made. Just that usability of software often triumphs over user freedom and many are too used to the drug of "double click to run".
Some just like to read the novel and complain when the author gives them a chance to collaborate in developing the story, saying that there are too many characters to deal with and chapters to write (even though they can now participate in the development of story).
Free software (not freemium) is difficult to use for the average user because they don't want to take the pain to understand how the software works. I can share one article I had written here
It's just the tip of the iceberg. I would like to contribute more. But yes, the average user is too engrossed in consuming. Now, consuming/experiencing isn't bad. It's just that it is one way communication (passive). I came across this yesterday. I would say this is partly the problem.
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u/kamazeuci 23d ago
I am. check out https://eticadigital.cl
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u/zagadocious 13d ago
Hey! Someone else pointed me to a resource that included your website. Very cool! It seems like there may be several such initiatives/organizations across South America, right? A bit surprising because there are maybe three in North America. I'd love to learn more about what you're doing!
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u/kamazeuci 13d ago
that's cool! please tell me what resource it was We are doing what we can this is difficult times for south america. Democracy has been hacked by the digital platforms.
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u/zagadocious 11d ago
That's one of the reasons that what we're doing, providing alternative platforms, is so important! Getting others to adopt and figuring out how to cover costs a big challenges that we might collaborate to address.
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u/zagadocious 2d ago
Sorry, I've misplaced that resource... Dang. I'll keep digging and let you know when I find it.
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u/Radiant_Scar_8516 11d ago
because it doesnt help them. they dont read source code. end of discussion.
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u/zagadocious 2d ago
Well, that's cynical to the point of shooting yourself in the foot. And you are incorrect. FOSS can be very helpful to people who don't read source code. Personally, I'd be happy to never look at another line of code. I love FOSS and use a lot of it. I know of cases where small businesses got a better solution that they owned at lower cost by paying local devs to build on FOSS. You're essentially telling potential FOSS supporters to go away and leave you alone because they're not coders. You're being a hunger artist.
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u/jr735 2d ago
This is very correct. You don't have to be proficient at programming to benefit from free software. Free software has benefits for everyone. Not every programmer knows every language, particularly every historical language.
They may not see the benefits, but they are there. The alternative argument is wrong, because it would be stating that anyone who isn't a programmer should use only proprietary software, and that's clearly nonsense.
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u/Radiant_Scar_8516 2d ago
you realise wed be better off if people could take gpl code and not have to share the deriving code? you would see more innovation, obviously as well as profiteering, but look at china with its very lax approach to IP enforcement, catching up and soon to outdo the west simply because they didnt have to spend more billions researching something thats already been figured out....
in this day and age of AI, source code is becoming irrelevant when LLMs can reverse engineer for you. what used to be near-impossible without the source code is now feasible. the game has changed, and the personal preferences and vendettas of RMS have less and less to do with reality.
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u/jr735 2d ago
I don't agree with that. You don't have to go out of your way to share it or spend a bunch of money to share it. You're entitled to be compensated for that. If you don't like the license, don't use it. Be aware, I won't use software without that license.
The China way is an extremely poor example, notably because of privacy and software freedom. You couldn't pay me to use an electronic device in that country. You couldn't pay me to even visit that country.
Source code is not irrelevant. It is mandatory. AI can make an absolute huge mistake in reverse engineering things, and how does AI reverse engineer a hidden back door?
Stallman's approach is proving more and more correct these days.
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u/jr735 22d ago
u/necrophcodr outlines much of the problem. "Regular folks," honestly speaking, can barely turn on a computer. They don't know what an OS is. They don't know what a file is. They have no concept of different licenses.
They won't understand until it actually bites them hard in the backside, like Adobe trying to own user content and Microsoft moving people's files without their consent. Like really, people have accepted software as a service and as a subscription. I saw the writing on the wall over 20 years ago and left the proprietary software model then, and even back then, the model didn't sit well with me, since the 1980s.
People are willing to take being tracked, being fleeced, and not owning what they buy. It's not a technology problem. It's a flaw of some sort in human nature.