Richard Stallman Manifesto: How I do my computing

I use a Thinkpad X60 computer in which the FSF (Free Software Foundation) installed a free initialization program (initialization program, libreboot ) and a free operating system ( Trisquel GNU / Linux ). This is the first computer model with a free initialization program and a free operating system that has ever been marketed . Therefore, this is the first computer product that the FSF approved (but was not sold to Lenovo).

Before that, I used Lemote Yeeloong for several years. At that time, it was the only laptop with a free installation program and a free operating system that could be bought. But it was never sold with a free operating system.
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Before that, I used OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) for a few weeks. I stopped because the OLPC project decided to support Windows, and I did not want to. OLPC uses a special firmware for WiFi, so I could not use the internal WiFi device. It does not matter, I used the external.

The results bother me. I expected to see millions of children using Windows with OLPC. Instead, I see millions of children using Windows with the Intel Classmate.

I used to use devices entirely on free GNU / Linux systems, but there were non-free BIOSes. For eight years, I tried to find a way around this problem.

Publishing support - Edison , which develops an online database of real estate , as well as designs and develops software for industrial scales and calibration equipment .



I do not have a favorite GNU / Linux distribution. I recommend ethical distributions to everyone - namely, those that are 100% free software.

I decided not to have preferences regarding ethical distributions . But I am not able to judge them by other criteria: even to try them all will take a lot of work.

I mainly use the text console for convenience. Most of my work is text editing, and it's much more efficient to do this in a text console. On the text console, the touchpad cannot cause me any problems if I accidentally touch it.

I use X11 when I need a GUI. I have no preferences regarding the graphical environment or the window manager. Since my interest in using the graphical environment is small, I don’t want to spend time comparing them.

This is not a question of ethics, just my personal preference. At the ethical level, I think that free software should provide a free graphical user interface, so GNU launched three projects into development. The third, GNOME , was successful, so the fourth project was not needed.

I mainly edited Emacs . I read and sent Emacs letters using Mx rmail and Cx m. I had no experience with other email client programs. In principle, I would be glad to learn about other free email clients, but this is not a matter of first importance and I don’t have time for that.



I edited the pages on this site with Emacs, although volunteers helped establish political and urgent notes. I had no experience with other ways of maintaining websites. In principle, I would be happy to learn about other ways, but this is not a matter of primary importance, and I have other things to do.

This site is very easy to maintain. I edit the pages as if I were doing it manually in HTML. I only know the basics of HTML; those who know more decorate the top and bottom of the pages and make more complex layout of the main page. Volunteers help me add political notes every day after they receive a letter from me in the mail. Job cron "turn over" the page with political notes every two months. Photo gallery generated using perl script . The search function on the site is carried out using this code .

Want to help with this? Write to rms on gnu.org.

This is where the design concept is explained , and also why I find the concept of “user experience” disgusting. Therefore, I want stallman.org to remain simple: it was not a “user experience”, but a place where I provide certain information, views and possibilities for action for you.

I have never used Unix (not a minute) after I decided to develop a free replacement for it ( the GNU system ). I decided to stick with this design because it seemed portable and fairly understandable. I have never been a Unix fan; I also criticized her. But it is not bad at all as a model.

In the mid-90s, my hands hurt badly, so much that most of the day I could only write with one finger. The FSF hired people who would print part of the day for me, and part of the day I suffered pain. After a few years, I learned that this was due to the hard keys of my keyboard. I switched to a less hard keyboard and the main problem was gone.

My problem was not carpal tunnel syndrome: I avoid it by holding my arms straight when I type. There are several types of pain in the hands that can be caused by repetitive stresses; I do not think that you have what you have heard of.

Why I came up with the name POSIX .

I have used the internet since it appeared. I have never used UUCP, although I sometimes sent letters to addresses that include transmission via UUCP.

I am very careful how I connect to the Internet. In particular, I refuse to connect through portals that require you to identify yourself or run any non - free non-trivial JavaScript programs . I like to work anonymously.

I often connect to the internet in someone else's home. The man, of course, knows who I am, but that does not bother me. However, I oppose my identity being in a database they can find. I prevent this by changing my MAC address in each location.

I am very careful about how I use the Internet.

I usually don’t connect to websites from my own machine, except for a few sites with which I have a special relationship. I get web pages from other sites by sending a letter to the program (see git: //git.gnu.org/womb/hacks.git), which receives them, as well as wget, and then sends them back to me. Then I look at them in a web browser if you cannot see the HTML page directly. First I try lynx , and then the graphical browser if the page needs it (using konqueror to get information that is not possible to get otherwise).



I periodically browse unrelated sites using IceCat via Tor. Except in those rare cases when I don’t mind giving them my identity. I think this is enough so that you cannot connect with me through my browser history. IceCat blocks tracking tags and most fingerprinting methods.

I never pay for anything on the net. I do not do anything on the Internet that requires payment. (I made an exception for stallman.org domain fees, as it is associated with me anyway). I also avoid paying with a credit card .

I don’t mind paying for a copy of an e-book or for music tracks on the Internet if I can do it anonymously and if it’s ethical (not DRM or EULA). But this option almost never exists. I am constantly looking for ways to change this.



The most powerful programming language is Lisp. If you don’t know Lisp (or its variant, Scheme), you don’t know what you mean when they talk about the power and elegance of a programming language. One day you will learn Lisp and understand what is missing in other programming languages.

Unlike most of today's languages ​​that are focused on defining specialized data types, Lisp provides several data types that are common. Instead of defining specific types, you build constructs of these types. Thus, instead of offering a way to define a list-of-this and a list-of-that-type, Lisp has one type of list that can contain any type of data.

Where other programming languages ​​allow you to define a list-of-this-type search function and sometimes a way to define a common list-search function that can be used for a list-of-this type, Lisp makes it easy to write a function that will search for any list — and provides a wide range such functions.

In addition, functions and expressions in Lisp are presented as data in such a way that it is very easy to work with them.

When you start the Lisp system, you enter the read-execute-print cycle. In many programming languages, there is nothing like reading, nothing like execution, and nothing like printing. What a significant flaws!

Lisp is not more difficult to understand than other languages. So if you have never studied programming, start with Lisp. If you learn to edit with Emacs, you can learn Lisp by writing an editing command for the Emacs editor. You can use Emacs Intro to Programming to learn Lisp. It's free and you can order hard copies from the FSF.



You can learn the Scheme (and a lot of deep ideas about programming) from the "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" by Abelson and Sassman. This book is now freely available, although hard copies are considered otherwise.

Please do not buy books (or anything) on ​​Amazon !

My favorite programming languages ​​are Lisp and C. However, since about 1992 I have been working mainly on free software activity, which means that I am too busy to program a lot. As a result, I did not have the time or opportunity to learn new languages, such as Perl, Python, PHP or Ruby.

I read a book about Java, and found it to be a very elegant development of C. But I never used it. I once wrote code in Java, but the code itself was in C and Lisp (I was in Java at the time).

By the way, I think C ++ is ugly.

I looked through the Python documentation after people told me that it looked like Lisp. My conclusion is that it is not. `read ',` eval', and `print 'are completely absent in Python.

I firmly refuse to install non-free programs or tolerate the fact that they are installed on my computer or on computers with which I need to work.

Although if I am somewhere on a visit or a trip where the only available devices contain proprietary software, I don’t refuse to use them. I will use them for simple tasks like searching for information on the Internet. This limited use does not give my consent to the licensed software and does not make me responsible for his presence in the computer or the owner of the copy, so I see no reason to refuse it. Of course, I explain to the locals why they should transfer their devices to free software, but I don’t put pressure on them, because this is not the best way to convince them of this.

In addition, I do not need to worry about what software is in the kiosks, payphones, or ATMs that I use. I hope that their owners will transfer them to free software for their own good, but I have no need to refuse to use them until then. I am aware that these devices and their owners can do something with my personal data, but this is another question that arises even if they use free software.

The main thing is to minimize those activities that give them any information about me.

This is my policy regarding the infrequent use of the device. If I used it for an hour every day, it would not be a rare use - it is regular use. Then I would start worrying about my software and would feel obliged to follow up on it.
In addition, if I am asked or brought someone to set up a computer, it makes me ethically responsible for downloading software. I insist on free software, as if it were my computer.

Regarding microwave ovens and other household appliances, if a software update is not a normal part of using a device, then it is no longer a computer. In this case, I think that the user does not need to take into account which processor contains the device, what software it has, or how it works. However, if he has the “firmware upgrade” option, it means that installing various software is a normal part of using it and then it is a computer.

Skype (or any proprietary and non-interoperable communications software) is a special case because of its network effect. Using Skype to chat with someone who also uses Skype, it is encouraging the use of non-free software (if you do it all the time, then force others to use non-free software). Therefore, I will not use Skype under any circumstances (see additional information ).

Streaming multimedia services such as Netflix and Spotify require non-free client programs that impose digital mechanism limitations ( DRM ) to prevent the user from saving a copy of the stream data through their own computer. You should never use DRM, which you cannot break, so you should not use these dis services if you cannot crack their DRM.

Another injustice of those and other streaming client programs is that they impose unfair contracts (licensing agreements) that restrict users more strictly than copyright law itself. I do not agree with this state of affairs and I hope you will reject them too.

These streaming dis-services are malicious technologies designed to make people asocial (if you do not have a copy, you cannot exchange copies). Fighting them is one of our top priorities.
A friend once asked me to watch a video with her participation, which she was going to show on her computer using Netflix. I refused, saying that Netflix is ​​claiming my freedom, and I don’t intend to participate in this under any circumstances.

Off, damn Spotify! Down with Netflix!

For the search, I mostly use DuckDuckGo for the last couple of years. It works with JS disabled, but you must follow the link before you search for anything.

I also occasionally use ixquick.com and google.com. My usual precautions should not let them know me.

I do not sit on any social networks, because I am not comfortable working in this way. This does not mean that I am against them. Some of them are pretty good. Social networks have specific ethical issues that are very different from ethical issues regarding software distribution ( free vs proprietary ) and there is a significant difference between these issues.

I have a Twitter account called rmspostcomments, which I use to log in on other sites or post comments on other articles. I never post on Twitter. Someone has created an account stallman_feed, in which they post posts about my notes. Any other Twitter account under my name was created by impostors.



The rms account on gnusocial.no repeats notes from this site, but I do not post them directly. This site is operated by the GNU Social .

In addition to these two accounts, I do not have any other accounts in social networks.

I do not post on 4chan. I have nothing against 4chan and I occasionally answer questions about him in an interview, but if you see some posts there under my name, do not trust them.

I have never had a Facebook or Google+ account. Some impostors created an account on Facebook under my name. This is not my page. The Google+ account, signed by my name, is also not mine.

I reject Facebook because it requires that each user has only one account, which means that all actions of a person are combined into a single whole. They also insist that people use their real names.

I can proudly report about myself when I set out my views; I can afford to do this, as I am in a fairly safe position. There are people who rationally fear reprisals (from employers, gangsters, hooligans, or the state) if they sign with their name when setting out their point of view. For their own sake, let's give up any social networks that insist you use your real identity.

Of course, Facebook is bad for many other reasons .

Google+ used to require the real name of a person, but as far as I know, he doesn't do that anymore. However, it requires identification in the form of a phone number.

Meanwhile, Google+ has another fatal flaw: it requires executing a non-free program in JavaScript if you want to send a message.

Sometimes people ask me to recommend email service. Two ethical questions for email service:

1. Can it be used without any non-free programs (including non-free JavaScript programs from the site)?
2. Does she respect your privacy?

For the first question, see the FSF page . I cannot verify that any email service is satisfactory. So I have no recommendations on this.

However, I can assume that it would be wise to use an email service that is not associated with your search engine. This way, you can almost be sure that email content will not affect search results. You do not have to identify yourself through your search engine in any way.

Every product with digital control restrictions (DRM) claims your freedom.



Therefore, you should not buy or tolerate any product with DRM (Digital rights management) that binds you hand and foot. For example, do not use encrypted DVDs if you have DeCSS or another similar program. And never use BluRay discs if you cannot find a way to break the shackles of DRM. Do not use Amazon Swindle and other e-book readers that claim your freedom. Do not use music or video services with DRM (if they require non-free client programs, they are probably somehow monitoring users).

Translation: Diana Sheremyeva