The Green Party, New Internationalist, Friends of the Earth International, People and Planet and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) have signed a statement at calling on social activists and progressive organizations to join with them in rejecting Microsoft's Vista operating system, and to encourage instead the adoption and use of free software.

Free software operating systems are now widely available in a form called GNU/Linux. Free software is about freedom, not price. It is software whose authors intentionally extend users the freedoms to study, copy, modify and share their work.

While proprietary software functions by dividing people and using technical restrictions to block communication between them, free software was created with individual freedom and social and solidarity in mind.

"Free software offers social activists an alternative to what Vista represents. Using free software we can further social and environmental justice without supporting growth based on waste, control and short-term profit," Green Party principal speaker Derek Wall said.

"I would urge social movements to develop a migration strategy, including a commitment not to move to Vista," he continued.

The statement highlights the disposable-computer mentality embodied in the excessive hardware requirements of Microsoft Windows Vista. Often new hardware is necessary to support new software features, but the coalition says in this case, Vista's requirements are to enable the operating system to more effectively restrict the user at the request of media companies seeking to prevent copying of music and video files.

These restrictions create a problem not only for the environment but also for social activists, who according to the statement become "dependent upon software owned and exclusively controlled by entities that design their software in ways directly opposed to grassroots social change."

"Free software is an issue of free speech when we depend upon our computers for social activism and political campaigning,” FSF’s Executive Director Peter Brown noted.

“Freedoms that we have been defending so vigorously for so long are being handed away through the adoption of software that restricts user freedom," he added.

The Free Software Foundation is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs.

source: ag-IP news