Proprietary Software created jobs

The fight against proprietary software is a decade long discussion once you get yourself in it -- I did.

When somebody tells you this same line, "proprietary software created jobs", tell them "so did marijuana".

Okay, maybe that's too absurd to describe what proprietary software is in our community. But the fact that a business employs people does not excuse misconduct in its business practices.

Drug dealing was never made legal, because it's a common knowledge that these illegal drugs kills people. But how different is proprietary software? What made it legal to sell proprietary software?

Is it because it doesn't kill anyone? Well, it does and it did. It just killed the very human in us, to care for others who won't have the chance to use it.

Sugar on Windows

From http://laptop.org/vision/mission/:
"Most of the nearly two–billion children in the __developing world__ are inadequately educated, or receive no education at all."

You can't expect a poor child to have Windows -- unless someone offered copies.

Yes, OLPC is not a laptop project, it's all about education.

I think, as volunteers in promoting to this great project, we should also make sure that we are providing the "proper" education.

We have seen the effect of teaching kids with proprietary products: A community exposed to such products grow up using these products -- legally or not. Richard Stallman used the word "addict" to define the scenario, because these people have been used to using the software in their everyday lives and because Bill Gates, himself, said it first.

"Although about three million computers get sold every year in China, people don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though. And as long as they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade." -- Bill Gates, Fortune Magazine July 20, 1998

RMS sees the opportunity to use OLPC as a platform for his Free Software movement: He wants to expose the kids to a community where anybody is allowed to share -- and yes, he probably want these kids to become addict of Free Software; it's his only way to avoid the kids from using non-free software.

One major problem to RMS's hacker community is that it grew too much that it starts to sub-group and have their own identity (opensource developers, crackers, phreaks, script kiddies, etc) due to different passion and reason in joining the community.

I think same is happening to OLPC Project -- best example is Sugar.

Yes, I'm on Windows (I got used to it -- got addicted to it). And having a Sugar on Windows is beneficial to people like me, but not to the kids -- let's leave them be.

Of course I can't do anything about it. The sub-division of the OLPC Project has started before I got to be a volunteer -- perhaps, OLPC PH could do something to avoid it happen to Philippines.

Coding Dad

I would like to start-of my very first blog site about my first baby, Elleana Johan, my month-old baby girl.


One of the major decision that made me quit my second full-time job is a chance to look after Lean while getting paid -- No, I'm not a professional babysitter and no, I won't babysit your child :D.

Right now, I am being paid to work at home. An irresistible opportunity and seems too good to be true. But this kind of work might not be stereotype job where you could relax for the rest of your life getting paid while doing paper works. I might end up jobless anytime I fail one of my duties.

I am still young and should not bother such troubles but I am a coding dad now. Ever since Lean came out, my whole decision making changed. I am a penny-wise now that I have to feed one little hungry mouth. But I don't consider this as a curse -- it is a 'gift' (remember the Spider-Man line?)

I remember rushing to the hospital and saw my wife, deeply sleeping and 'bump-less'... "Where's 'our' baby?". Can't forget the feeling of happily waiting forever -- it's not like one of those days where your program hung steadily and kept you sitting and waiting for just a few seconds which seemed like forever, too long just enough to kill the application instead.

Then all of a sudden, here she comes. Wrapped with those white baby blankets that I wish were my hands -- she's just too fragile to hold.

Did not believe that people cry because they are happy. But at that time, I felt a different type of happiness. I could feel my heartbeats to my very fingers. Got some butterflies flying in my stomach -- I wanted to shed a tear, but I just could not. I'm a sensitive but shy type of guy -- I'd rather put my feeling into letters than into words.

Each day and night that I work, I feel no regret leaving my former job as web developer. Money can't buy happiness -- happiness might help you earn them.

As I write this code, I am currently dealing with an overdue project. Will this end my 3rd chosen career? Hope not. Won't allow it to happen. So, I got to save this post now and publish before I put my job into jeopardy. :D