Still using Windows or Mac OS? You are not free...

Today the majority of computer users are not free.
The most famous and installed operating systems (Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS) are proprietary software; this means that they are property of a corporation that gives to the user the license to use them under specific conditions and only if they can pay.

A proprietary software user has lost control over his own computer. He can only adapt himself to the choices that corporations have already made for him.
Windows and Mac OS are binary operating system: we can't modify them to fix problems or to add features, we can't share them with our friends, we can't see their source code. It's like when we're eating something but we don't know the ingredients.
We have absolutely no control, we are not free.

If you are reading this page then you made your first step towards the freedom to use your computer as you desire.
My desire would be to help you making the next steps. :)

Your personal computer

Here are some suggestions to buy your new computer.

GNU/Linux: a free (as in freedom) operating system

The next step: stop using Windows and Mac OS and start using GNU/Linux, a free as in freedom operating system.
Maybe you have heard of it simply as "Linux" but it's a widespread mistake.

GNU/Linux is a more secure, more stable and faster operating system than the proprietary ones.
Opposite to Windows, it doesn't exist a unique GNU/Linux system but there are many variants called "GNU/Linux distributions".
You have many choices but I suggest you to install gNewSense because it has the policy of rejecting non free software.

I suggest you to NOT delete your current operating system but to install GNU/Linux on the same hard disk or in a separate hard disk, if you have one.
In both cases, when your computer starts, you can choose which operating system you want to start.

If you need more information you can read this introduction to the GNU/Linux operating system (in Italian).

How to maintain the freedom acquired

Now that you have installed GNU/Linux, some tips to maintain your freedom.

Your previous operating system has accustomed users to make wide use of proprietary formats for years (doc, xls, ppt, wmv, wma, etc.).
Proprietary formats are much diffuse but they are not ISO standard and they cannot be opened by all software.
To use a computer in freedom means to give to all the users the right to read (and to modify them, if you wish) your files but this is not possible if you keep using proprietary formats. In this way you are obligating all the people who receive these files to use proprietary software.

To maintain your freedom you have to save your files only in free formats (and suggest others to do so).

Take back the web!

Internet is full of websites that display correctly only if the user have installed some proprietary software such as Adobe Flash, Microsoft Windows Mediaplayer, Real Player, etc.

In most cases, proprietary software is not essential for that content to display correctly but maybe the webmaster doesn't know it.
For this reason please write to the webmaster and tell him he can choose a free alternative format which all his visitors can view instead of the proprietary one.
Maybe my page about free formats can be of help. If the webmaster refuses to change it, let him know that you will not visit his page anymore and that you will advice others to do so. If you still want to see that content, find another website. Often a small search solves the problem.
Please favour websites that supply their content in free formats!

Can I use free (as in freedom) software in Windows?

Sure. Free software is usually better than proprietary software but if you want to be really free you must change also the main program (the operating system) and replace it with GNU/Linux.

Here you can find a free software list for Windows and MacOS. All the software is available in a cool cdrom that you can always bring with you.

My favourite software is not free as in freedom!

Please check out our free software list above and look if there is a free alternative for your program.
If there isn't then you have only one thing to do with that program: FREE IT!
Launch a campaign to convince the developers to release it under the GPL license, we will publish it on Chi3.
Often the developers don't change license because they don't receive enough requests of that kind but if the users are a great number, they can change things.
I invite you to not neglect this opportunity because I set free more than one program in this way.

Please send comments on these web pages to
[Graziano Sorbaioli's email]