[ox-en] [ox] FYI: Kuro5hin: Why should labor unions pay people to write free software? (fwd)
- From: Graham Seaman <graham seul.org>
- Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 13:06:44 -0500 (EST)
Since this about an English language discussion I thought i should pass it
on.. :-)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 16:52:07 [PHONE NUMBER REMOVED]
From: Robert Gehring <zoroaster snafu.de>
Reply-To: liste oekonux.de
To: liste oekonux.de
Subject: [ox] FYI: Kuro5hin: Why should labor unions pay people to write
free software?
Guten Tag allerseits,
ich bin gerade über folgenden Artikel gestolpert, der den einen oder die
andere Leser(in) vielleicht interessieren könnte.
"Why should labor unions pay people to write free software?
(Freedom & Politics)
By wbeckler
Wed Jan 30th, 2002 at 12:18:11 AM EST
Why should labor unions support open-source software? Why should programmers
push for the labor movement's usage of open-source software? The labor
movement aims to increase the power of workers and to decrease corporate
control of people's lives. If you use closed-source software, you give
control of your computer to the corporation that created the software. When
labor unions understand this, they will bring unprecedented resources to the
open-source movement.
These questions have not been put to labor unions or to the open-source
community. I work at a labor union and I am seeking arguments to sway the
union leaders towards using open-source software and funding its development.
I see labor unions and the open-source movement as natural allies, but people
need to understand several things before they make such a connection. To a
union leader, free software does not sound like a scheme that would put money
in the pockets of workers. This is especially the case for software that is
written on a voluntary basis (which accounts for a majority of free
software). I need to convince the union heads that open source is about more
than just getting a product without paying for it.
Just as union folks have much to learn before they appreciate the benefits of
open source, many open source enthusiasts do not understand labor unions or
see the connections between the two struggles. Programmers often identify
with corporate leadership. Like most workers, they do not know how much of
their situation they owe to sacrifices made by labor activists. People do not
learn in school that labor struggles created the weekend. Corporations have
become experts at disparaging organizing efforts, and programmers, like
everybody else, have mostly bought the boss's message. That is why the
percentage of workers who are organized is at an eighty-year low. On the
other hand, advocates of open source are acutely aware of corporate
inefficiency and arrogance. An open-source activist sees problems with
today's economic structures and sees how corporate control in our society has
terrible consequences. Most important of all, an open-source programmer knows
that democratic structures can be more productive than corporate hierarchies.
Unions can gain so much by supporting open-source software, but the
open-source community has not tried to explain this. Unions have very similar
data processing needs across the world, and the software to support that is
closed-source. Unions are not buying union-made software today because not
much exists. When you buy non-free software, you are usually giving money to
a corporation that unfairly profits from the backs of its workers. Paying
people to write free software means not supporting the promulgation of an
unorganized workforce. Programmers generally prefer working on free software
because they know that their product will benefit whoever needs it. By paying
people to write free software, unions are supporting the right of workers to
control the way their work is licensed.
If open-source advocates and labor leaders spoke with each other they would
see that in both struggles the participation of each person benefits the
whole. Both groups believe that power in the hands of workers (as opposed to
companies) leads to a better world. Are there other arguments to be made to
labor unions and to the open-source community that would encourage them to
support each other?"
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/1/29/213759/812
Eine Diskussion des Artikels folgt auf der genannten Seite. Allerdings fällt
sie nicht unbedingt zugunsten der Unions aus.
Gruß, Robert
--
Von/From: Dipl.-Inform. Robert Gehring
E-Mail: rag cs.tu-berlin.de
privat: zoroaster snafu.de
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