Raiden's Realm: Giving Thanks For FOSS

Giving Thanks For FOSS (Page 1 of 1)

Written by Steve Lake
Posted on: Nov 25, 2009 at 01:55pm
Section: Editorials
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The fourth Thursday of November of every year is Thanksgiving. It is a day to think back, remember, and give thanks for all the wonderful things we have in America. We have the freedom to choose between vanilla and chocolate, to speak our minds, to eat turkey until our insides burst, to watch the Detroit Lions get pounded into the astro turf, and so much more.

But have you really thought about what you're thankful for in the FOSS world? What is there that, if it were gone tomorrow, that you'd miss the most? Whatever you would miss the most should be the one thing you're most thankful for having.

There are many things I can say I'm thankful for in the FOSS world. The first would be Linux, a free operating system with no strings attached. Sure, it's got its quirks, but what OS doesn't? And despite any shortcomings it may have, it gives me a freedom to choose, to do things my way, to go places no corporately funded OS would allow you to.

I'm thankful for source code. While I may only be able to make use of a tiny portion of it, namely those languages and applications I can understand, and thus edit and modify myself, there are others who can, and thus can help me do things with a program that no closed source, corporately controlled application would allow me to do.

I'm thankful for the programmers and developers who work so hard on the hundreds of thousands of applications used in the FOSS and Linux worlds, including the distros, the background applications and more. I'm thankful for the freedom to agree, or disagree with those same said programmers, or any member of the FOSS community, on the direction a given application or distro is taken.

I'm thankful for the packagers who give up hundreds of thousands of man hours to bundle together our favorite applications, compile them, package them, and so much more so that we can have easy point and click installations without having to build from source, or become a PHD in software in order to build them ourselves.

I'm thankful for the graphics artists who create the incredible artwork, icons, buttons and other eye candy that comes with every application and distro. I'm thankful for the musicians and sound editors who make the incredible music and sounds that come with our games, programs, and much more.

I'm thankful for the game developers who give long hours working on any of a variety of open source games so that we have the freedom to game however we feel we want. I'm thankful for the companies who support FOSS, and for the schools, corporations and others who provide them the bandwidth they need so that others can download their distros and applications.

I'm thankful for the pioneers and advocates of FOSS who blazed the path through a world of giants, and even to this day fight to keep that path open so that others can come in behind them and enjoy the fruits of their labor.

I'm thankful for the people who fight for our digital freedoms against those who would lock down, shut out, and restrict through patents, copyright, DRM and so much more, our freedom to use, share and enjoy that which should rightfully be free.

I'm thankful for all the people who write about FOSS and Linux, providing tutorials, guides, reviews and so much more, as well as the numerous volunteers who step up and help newbies with problems in order to help make their experience with Linux a happy one.

And I could go on for pages and pages about the things I'm thankful for in the FOSS world. But rather than bore you with my list of the things that I'm thankful for, let me ask you this. What is there in the FOSS and Linux worlds that you're thankful for? Why are you thankful for them? And have you thanked these groups and/or individuals for what they've done? If you're thankful for what they do, and you don't tell them, how will they know?

Think about that this Thursday while you're enjoying your turkey. Make a list of those things and people for whom you're thankful, and then tell them. I'm sure they'd love to hear from you. :

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