User: Andrew89

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{{user GNU}}{{user playfreedom}}{{user diaspora}}{{user gnash}}{{user swpat}}{{user dbd}}{{user ODF}}{{user NoACTA}}{{user NotFacebooked}}{{Profile_Page
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{{user GNU}}{{user playfreedom}}{{user swpat}}{{user dbd}}{{user ODF}}{{user NoACTA}}{{user NotFacebooked}}{{Profile_Page
 
|Username=Andrew89
 
|Username=Andrew89
 
|Name=Andrew Ter-Grigoryan
 
|Name=Andrew Ter-Grigoryan
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==A Little About Me==
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==My Free Software Odyssey==
  
 
'''FSF member # 8401.'''
 
'''FSF member # 8401.'''
  
My entry into the world of free software really began when I tried Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon). Prior to that, I was using a smattering of free software applications on Windows, and well before that, I was aware of "open source" and "Linux".
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My entry into the world of free software really began when I tried Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon). Prior to that, I was using an assortment of free software applications on Windows, and well before that, I had heard of "open source" and "Linux".
  
At some point, I got really serious about free software, did my homework (so to speak) on the history of the movement, Richard Stallman, the GNU project, etc., and joined the FSF. I wanted to start using a completely free distribution; Trisquel GNU/Linux was the only one that fit the bill. I was actively involved in the Trisquel project from winter of 2009 until spring of 2011, particularly in the areas of documentation and bug testing. It was a worthwhile experience. In early June of 2011, I decided, with no fanfare whatsoever, to finally hang up my hat on Trisquel and migrate to Fedora. This was done in the spirit of compromise. Fedora may not be FSF-approved, but besides being a quite beautiful distribution, they are more committed to free software than most of the other popular distributions, except Debian. The free software movement has come a long way after all these years, but the prospects for fully-free systems are still quite dismal, unfortunately.
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Eventually, I became more serious about free software ideals, researched the history of the movement, Richard Stallman, the GNU project, etc., and joined the FSF. I wanted to start using a completely free distribution, and Trisquel GNU/Linux was the only one that fit the bill. I was actively involved in the Trisquel project from winter of 2009 until spring of 2011, particularly in the areas of documentation and bug testing. The experience was worthwhile. In early June of 2011, in the spirit of compromise, I decided to migrate to Fedora. Fedora may not meet the FSF standards for a free distributio, but besides being a well-rounded beauty of an operating system, Fedora Project is more committed to the ideals of free software than most of the other popular distributions. The free software movement has come a long way after all these years, and perhaps it will one day come so far that using a fully-free distribution is not a thorny experience. That day has not yet arrived.
  
Like many in this movement, I find myself somewhere in between the hardcore dogmatism of Richard Stallman and the devil-may-care attitude of Linus Torvalds. If free software ever wins the day, it probably won't be because society at large moves toward demanding freedom from its software, because people are sheep and they don't like to reflect on the ethical implications of their choices. I still insist on calling my operating system GNU/Linux, because I believe in giving credit where it is due, and I still prefer the term "free software", because "open source" misleads people as to the main, ethical, point of the software -- freedom for the user.
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Like many, I find myself somewhere in between the uncompromising dogmatism of Richard Stallman and the devil-may-care approach of Linus Torvalds. If free software ever wins out, it probably won't be because society begins demanding freedom from its software, because in general (and unfortunately) people don't like to reflect on the ethical implications of their choices.
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I still call it GNU/Linux, because I believe in giving credit where it is due (and a great deal more credit is due to the GNU project than it has received), and I still prefer the term "free software", because "open source" misleads people as to the main ethical value of the software -- freedom for each and every user.

Revision as of 22:58, 31 October 2011

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No acta txtonly.png This user supports the FSF's group campaign against ACTA.


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Username Andrew89
Full name Andrew Ter-Grigoryan
Email roeplay@member.fsf.org
XMPP/Jabber AndrewT@jabber.org
Website andrewt1989@diasp.org
Blog
Microblog
IRC AndrewT (irc.freenode.net)
Groups
Learning
Spoken languages English
Programming languages
Identities
Interests
City Bowling Green
State Kentucky
Country United States of America



Button-gr.png This user is a member of LibrePlanet Greece.




My Free Software Odyssey

FSF member # 8401.

My entry into the world of free software really began when I tried Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon). Prior to that, I was using an assortment of free software applications on Windows, and well before that, I had heard of "open source" and "Linux".

Eventually, I became more serious about free software ideals, researched the history of the movement, Richard Stallman, the GNU project, etc., and joined the FSF. I wanted to start using a completely free distribution, and Trisquel GNU/Linux was the only one that fit the bill. I was actively involved in the Trisquel project from winter of 2009 until spring of 2011, particularly in the areas of documentation and bug testing. The experience was worthwhile. In early June of 2011, in the spirit of compromise, I decided to migrate to Fedora. Fedora may not meet the FSF standards for a free distributio, but besides being a well-rounded beauty of an operating system, Fedora Project is more committed to the ideals of free software than most of the other popular distributions. The free software movement has come a long way after all these years, and perhaps it will one day come so far that using a fully-free distribution is not a thorny experience. That day has not yet arrived.

Like many, I find myself somewhere in between the uncompromising dogmatism of Richard Stallman and the devil-may-care approach of Linus Torvalds. If free software ever wins out, it probably won't be because society begins demanding freedom from its software, because in general (and unfortunately) people don't like to reflect on the ethical implications of their choices.

I still call it GNU/Linux, because I believe in giving credit where it is due (and a great deal more credit is due to the GNU project than it has received), and I still prefer the term "free software", because "open source" misleads people as to the main ethical value of the software -- freedom for each and every user.