I suggest Open Source Software
my suggestion is to both use and, if you can, create open source software. In a world riddled with ads, with people trying to get your attention, many people dont know there is another way: Open Source Software the usual concern people have with switching to another operating system is accessibility. But over the years, that has grown to be less and less of a concern as things have been made easier and easier. a normal person might even choose to install linux mint at this point. Even gaming has been made accessible. If you dont feel ready to switch your operating system though, fear not, for even replacing one singular piece of software is already a step towards a brighter future. and the best part? YOU DO NOT NEED TO PAY ANYTHING but we are getting ahead of ourselves.
What even is Open Source Software?
Put simply, Open Source Software (also referred to as OSS) is software that has its source code openly available. It is usually maintained by those who actually wish to use the tool they are developing. The major advantages this brings are as follows: - free (because the code is public, anyone can use it) - fast (public code means anyone can find poorly optimized parts) - persistent (if someone discontinues the project, the code still exists and others might even work to continue it) - secure (vulnerabilities will still pop up, but more eyes means they will be found and fixed faster)
I will now elaborate on these points
free
the most obvious one. it doesn't cost any money. no subscription or payment needed. usually also ad free. doesn't sell your data.
fast
not every open source app is fast. but public facing code does tend to be more performant in my experience. A good example of this is how I can run a full linux desktop with about 1GiB of Ram and minimal CPU usage.
persistent
anyone can make a copy of the code, because anyone can read it. even if the project is discontinued forever and no one picks it up, the last version will not be lost as long as someone has made a copy.
secure
perhaps the most argued about point on this post. it is easier to find vulnerabilities in public code. Some people will say this makes it less secure. This isn't really the case. for example, the code for Windows is not open source. every second tuesday every month, Windows has Patch Day, where a ton of vulnerabilities that have been found are fixed. In an enterprise environment, this can mean 50GiB of updates every second tuesday every month. I would not consider this secure. most vulnerabilities are found by security researchers that actually want to help. this means the vulnerability isnt just blast out into the public for any aspiring "hackers" to use. instead it is given to the maintainers of the project first, so they have time to fix it before it becomes a problem. bonus: though most don't, some open source projects specifically forbid the use of generative AI to write code. one example of this is a piece of software called river. river is a bit more technical, so the average user likely wont come into contact with it, but I thought it was worth mentioning. they state:
"Use of generative AI/LLMs is strictly forbidden for all contributions to river.
This includes bug reports and comments on the issue tracker."
source: https://codeberg.org/river/river
It is important for open source that you use it.
Open Source maintainers are people too. if no one uses their stuff, they may become demotivated. if bugs are not reported, they will bother users forever. You can even contribute to lots of these projects, often even if its just by fixing typos or submitting feature requests. Open Source Software is a community of people at heart, and for a community to thrive, it needs active involvement. But even if you just download a piece of Open Source Software, the maintainer will see someone using it. I have seen friends put tens of hours into software, because 23 people used it.
Some additional notes
Where do I find Open Source Software?
most of the time when I find Open Source Software, its because I want to do something specific. instead of searching for an image editing program, I will simply search for an open source image editing program. the other way is through App Stores specifically made for this purpose. for example. on Android, there is FDroid, which is an app store with nothing but open source apps, which even marks antifeatures (features you might not want) such as tracking, ads, or being dependent on an online service thats not trivial to replace.
Be nice to Open Source maintainers
most open source maintainers create things for the betterment of our lives on their own time, they do not owe you anything. There have been cases of these maintainers being treated in such a way that has made them stop maintaining certain projects. You can obviously criticize them, but remember that they are human beings with feelings too. insulting a maintainer because a feature you want is not being implemented makes you the asshole.
Who was this blog inspired by?
this blog was primarily inspired @isuggestalibraryofallthings and @isuggestrevolution. it aims to offer a way of relying on and helping a community that tries to make software free and accessible. If even one person escapes any tiny shred of influence of our corporate overlords because of this blog, it will have been worth it.
