I have been listening #TheLinuxSpotlight for almost 50 episodes and so far, as a matter of fact, the only one who addressed the topic of free software clearly and properly has been Mark Shuttelworth of #Canonical.

I was really amazed, I am not a fan of Ubuntu, I am not a fan of #BDFL meanings, but that man has mentioned the #opensource terminology just a couple of time and it focused all his interview speaking about the importance of the free software, he put the free software at the center of any of his arguments, he demonstrated a deep knowledge of the importance of the free software in our society. I was really impressed, because the free software philosophy is under attack as never been like before and cannot be spoken and nevertheless associated with Linux and the opensource; and despite all the desperate effort by Rocco of #BigDaddyLinux to move the conversation from free software to opensource Mr Shuttelworth continued to elaborate the importance of the free software, he was absolutely brilliant.

It is a shame that actually Canonical and Ubuntu don't pursue the exact same vision he shared in that interview, but he was genuinely amazing! At this point I have to remove Canonical from the list of the bad guys. Someone ordered to omit the terminology "free software" in anything that is related with Linux, it can't be a coincidence that you can watch/listen 100 episodes of any Linux podcast without listening that terminology mentioned not even one single time.

Thus I would say that there are very few names left in that list and if I watch at this other list: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/about/board-members/ ; there is very few room left to the imagination...

By the way so far I remember the terminology free software has been cited one time by Chris Titus in ep. 13 but he rapidly correct himself as if he was saying an heresy, and has been mentioned a couple of times by Carl Richell of S76 in ep. 34 to reiterate how it was important for Computer Science; I don't know personally Rocco, but I think he is a great guy, however he won't pronounce the terminology "free software" even under torture...

To conclude, even though I am still in disagree with many choices made by Canonical, and Ubuntu is not my favorite distro, that interview was amazing and it is a slap on the face of all those youtebers/podcasters that show constantly an hostile attitude toward the free software philosophy! Opensource and free software as in freedom aren't the same thing, and speaking about free software doesn't mean endorsing the Free Software Foundation, it means endorsing the four freedoms that any people must have regarding the use and redistribution of the software, being hostile against the freedom is unbelievable! 😱

#freesoftware #freesoftwaremovement #opensource #linux