Hackerdom: Difference between revisions

Come a User; return a Hacker

The Free and Open Source Community in India is growing. The Community boasts some of the best minds in India, but out of the high percentage of Free Software Users in India, most just seek to gain from the Free Software they use and not to give back on some way to the Open Source Community. The problem is fundamentally the lack of understanding of what "free" in free and open source software stands for.

Of all the cool slogans and write-ups we have made up explaining the dream of Free Software, none of them have been able to completely make the people aware of the fact that GNU/Linux is not just another brand of software that seems to function much more efficiently than the more common brands. The common users remain simple users without a notion of the fact that even they can help.

Not everyone wants to write code, not everyone wants to give lectures on the concepts of our community. But any user can still help. Its not that every user needs to turn developer to help, licensing the work you create using FOSS to be free and open source too, or simply giving a feedback to the community or letting the developers know of your wants is also a tremendous help and involvement in the community.

One of the basic difference between human being and other animals are that we share our knowledge and learn not only from our own experience but also from others. When the World entered the digital era, this very basic process of sharing and collaboration was in check in the most furious form. Free Software emerged against these measures. It built a new continent in the digital world where people are free as in freedom. Welcome to this continent of freedom, where each and every being contribute his own little part to the whole and thus take part in the upliftment of the whole continent. It is this way, one's work becomes a contribution to the society. Its a good thing that people build things that are useful for others.But its equally or even worse when the society is not able to utilize its benefits. When the builders/developers themselves try to prevent the society from getting the benefits of their good work, they are actually doing a greater harm towards the society. That is stressed by Free Software. Earning Profit is enjoyable in the Free Software continent because we are receiving money from the help we have done to our customer,not from the restrictions we have imposed on him.

Hackers are the ones who realize this. Knowing how important freedom is to the society and how vital the role of the user is in spreading that freedom, it is up to the hackers to spread awareness and bring the following.