FSFE open letter: "The universal right to install any software on any device"

Date:
Wed, 15 Jun 2022 18:58:51 GMT

Description:
The Lunduke Journal has signed this letter and enthusiastically supports it.

FULL STORY ======================================================================

The FSFE (Free Software Foundation Europe) has published an open letter to Legislators in the European Union entitled The universal right to install
any software on any device .

The open letter contains four key requests:

Users have the right to freely choose operating systems and software running on their devices

Users have the right to freely choose between service providers to connect their devices with

Devices are interoperable and compatible with open standards

Source code of drivers, tools, and interfaces are published under a free license

The key one, to me, is number 1.

That users have the right to freely choose operating systems and software running on their devices.

Many companies are actively engaged in a campaign to vilify and forbid users from being able to install and use the software of their choice on the computer hardware they own.

Apple, for example, is working hard to vilify the concept of installing software outside of a closed marketplace by referring to such a simple act as sideloading and working to demonize the concept .

Google has taken a similar approach. And has, as of this last year, taken significant steps to limit the ability of users to sideload software.

These actions by Apple, Google, and others need to be fought against. It runs contrary to everything we, as computer enthusiasts, are for. Apple and Google seek to severely limit tinkering, experimentation, hardware longevity, and the basic freedom of how we use the hardware we, personally, own.

As such, The Lunduke Journal has proudly signed this open letter from the FSFE.

The Lunduke Journal joins other freedom loving organizations (such as Nextcloud, Software Freedom Conservancy, KDE, Purism, openSUSE, Haiku, /e/, Nitrokey, and many others) in support of the idea that people should be free to install software, of their choosing, on their own hardware.



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Link to news story: https://lunduke.substack.com/p/fsfe-open-letter-the-universal-right


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