# In Defense of the Free Software Movement by Andrew Kelley 2024 and more **URL:** \ **Category:** Media\ **Created:** [August 2, 2026, 7:30pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/in-defense-of-the-free-software-movement-by-andrew-kelley-2024-and-more/17046 "2026-08-02T19:30:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![removewingman](https://ziggit.dev/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@removewingman](https://ziggit.dev/u/removewingman)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 7:30pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/in-defense-of-the-free-software-movement-by-andrew-kelley-2024-and-more/17046/1 "2026-08-02T19:30:29Z")
[In Defense of the Free Software Movement by Andrew Kelley](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYAif5PhhoQ&t=7104s) Someone linked this talk in another thread, this is how I found it. I highly recommend it and want to share more material that share similar values, because I think they are more relevant then ever. - [Elizabeth Baumel - Programming is Practice Problem Solving](https://youtube.com/watch?v=OfnEfFb8yks&t=21009) - [Who wants you to think nobody uses the AGPL and why - John Sullivan](https://youtube.com/watch?v=XGa_TlRdtG8) - [Bitreich Manifesto](https://media.rw8.lu/bitreich-manifesto-en.pdf) - [Hundred Rabbits Philosophy](https://100r.co/site/philosophy.html) - [Suckless Philosophy](https://suckless.org/philosophy/) - [Handmade Manifesto](https://handmade.network/manifesto) - [Devine Lu Linvega - Weathering Software Winter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TJuOwy4aGA) - [Basics of the Unix Philosophy](https://cscie2x.dce.harvard.edu/hw/ch01s06.html) - [Don’t Take the Black Pill - Andrew Kelley](https://andrewkelley.me/post/dont-take-black-pill.html) - [The Techno-Optimist Manifesto - Andrew Kelley](https://andrewkelley.me/post/the-techno-optimist-manifesto.html) - [Why We Can’t Have Nice Software - Andrew Kelley](https://andrewkelley.me/post/why-we-cant-have-nice-software.html) - [The Unreasonable Effectiveness Of Plain Text - No Boilerplate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgV6M1LyfNY) - [The Most Important Question in Linux: Extensibility - Luke Smith](https://youtube.com/watch?v=6qlCKne6MpA) - [Permacomputing](https://permacomputing.net/) - [Just for Fun. No, Really.](https://justforfunnoreally.dev/) > What does the AGPL help with: > > - Portability > - Decentralization > - Security breaches, privacy issues, other bad behavior by server operatores > - Building engaged community around a project > - Advancing free Software - [Who wants you to think nobody uses the AGPL and why - John Sullivan](https://youtube.com/watch?v=XGa_TlRdtG8) > The battle against Coercionware is only beginning, and we find ourselves on the frontlines whether we like it or not. > > But we are not alone, and computers truly are magic. Do not mistake lost ground for lost hope. We are the ones who make computers do what they do. We _can_ win this thing if we collectively choose to believe it and bet on it. > All in. - [Don’t Take the Black Pill - Andrew Kelley](https://andrewkelley.me/post/dont-take-black-pill.html) > #### When Possible Use GPLv3 > > The signs of MIT‐appearance in the community is based on the circle of complexity introduced into the minds of libre software programmers by their oppressors transferring money to their bank accounts every month. > Your software is used in war machines to kill people and the companies will never give back. So enforce GPLv3, it’s needed. > > #### Do Not Hate Your Userbase > > Corporations start to hate their users, sell their data, reduce features to make profit. > Projects adhering to the bitreich principles do not follow this. - [Bitreich Manifesto](https://media.rw8.lu/bitreich-manifesto-en.pdf) I know these are pretty radical, but maybe some people feel inspired 🙃 ---
**Author:** ![mauxanh](https://ziggit.dev/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@mauxanh](https://ziggit.dev/u/mauxanh)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 3:22am UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/in-defense-of-the-free-software-movement-by-andrew-kelley-2024-and-more/17046/2 "2026-08-03T03:22:25Z")
Just to add to that, if Permacomputing scratches anyone’s itch and you’d like to learn more about it, I’d recommend going after 100r’s resources on the topic. Besides being informative, their content is pleasing to the eyes! - [Permacomputing 101](https://100r.co/site/permacomputing_101.html) - [Weathering Software Winter](https://100r.co/site/weathering_software_winter.html) It might be pretty radical if the topic is new to you and you come from more mainstream tech perspectives like I did. But, there’s a lot of gold in Permacomputing circles, a lot of folks in the community are doing deep research and going back to older/forgotten tech to ask “what if?”. I find that very valuable and has potential to bring in new perspectives to the way we all build software. ---
**Author:** ![crodjer](https://ziggit.dev/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@crodjer](https://ziggit.dev/u/crodjer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 10:53am UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/in-defense-of-the-free-software-movement-by-andrew-kelley-2024-and-more/17046/3 "2026-08-03T10:53:20Z")
I just always use AGPL / GPL v3 in my projects. But I guess that’s okay for me as I work as a consultant and the product is me. ---
**Author:** ![pierrelgol](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/pierrelgol/32/10233_2.png) [@pierrelgol](https://ziggit.dev/u/pierrelgol)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 8:33am UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/in-defense-of-the-free-software-movement-by-andrew-kelley-2024-and-more/17046/4 "2026-08-05T08:33:40Z")
Just watched it and I love it, I’m from France and I totally agree with Andrew everyone should strive and work for a strong unionized workforce, because I can tell you first hand it bloody works, just recently, Dassault which is another big defense company in France gave a raise to their employees through some mandatory bonus that we have each years (Prime de participation, Prime d’interessement). And because of our union we got a 34% raised to ours to match what Dassault’s employees were getting, because of the threat of a social movements. This is one example out of thousands in France were the people through their union and representative got the final word. ---
**Author:** ![flow](https://ziggit.dev/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@flow](https://ziggit.dev/u/flow)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 12:51pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/in-defense-of-the-free-software-movement-by-andrew-kelley-2024-and-more/17046/5 "2026-08-05T12:51:54Z")
> [@removewingman](#): > > In Defense of the Free Software Movement by Andrew Kelley He points to Steam as a problem for gamedevs as it takes 30% from them and probably more if it got sold. The solution Andrew suggest is open source their software. At least gamedevs gets 70% via Steam, while they will get 0 % when they open source their game. Let’s face it, it’s Utopian and unhealthy if it’s not a hobby. Edit: ok Andrew adds some nuance to it later, fair enough. ---
**Author:** ![khskarl](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/khskarl/32/9844_2.png) [@khskarl](https://ziggit.dev/u/khskarl)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 2:02pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/in-defense-of-the-free-software-movement-by-andrew-kelley-2024-and-more/17046/6 "2026-08-05T14:02:54Z")
> The solution Andrew suggest is open source their software Do you mean 2:49:08 when he says _“…[about Steam] how long do you think that’s gonna last? **The solution is free software** , we are gonna pay the cost to the fact that we are on someone else’s platform, renting their land, when we could have been on a communal space this whole time…”_ ? ---
**Author:** ![khskarl](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/khskarl/32/9844_2.png) [@khskarl](https://ziggit.dev/u/khskarl)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/in-defense-of-the-free-software-movement-by-andrew-kelley-2024-and-more/17046/7 "2026-08-05T14:24:51Z")
I’m a big fan of 100r and the Weathering Software Winter article! Absolutely recommend reading it. Adding to the topic in general, I feel like there is an overemphasis on licenses rather than incentive and power structures. I have an interest in Worker Cooperative Licenses — i.e. licensing that is cheaper or free for worker cooperatives — but it’s pointless to think much about it since there isn’t an international legal structure that will make it easy to enforce something like that. In practical terms, I would like to see more Free Software that does both: 1. Dual licensing — free license for individuals, free for non-profit structures, paid for corporations. 2. Software that corporations won’t ever make — imo Blender’s success comes from having a cultural status that Autodesk can’t achieve with paid software, and for blender being a all-in-one application, rather than many separate applications. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) focused a lot on “Existing Commercial Software, but Free ✨”: - GIMP – Photoshop, but free ✨; - LibreOffice – Microsoft Office, but free ✨. Modularity and “bespokeness” are two values that you rarely see in proprietary software, as there is always more profit in walled gardens and minimal-common-factor products — so it would be advantageous to design with these values rather than playing a losing game by releasing Temu version of SomeSoftware™. Another aspect that Free Software development has lacked is the involvement from non-programmers, get to know your user, get designers involved, talk to a government worker copy pasting things from a Google Spreadsheet into another and learn their day to day, a.k.a touching grass is a good idea after all. ---
**Author:** ![Nika](https://ziggit.dev/user_avatar/ziggit.dev/nika/32/7019_2.png) [@Nika](https://ziggit.dev/u/Nika)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 8:15pm UTC](https://ziggit.dev/t/in-defense-of-the-free-software-movement-by-andrew-kelley-2024-and-more/17046/8 "2026-08-05T20:15:07Z")
thanks for sharing permacomputing 101, living on a sailboat sounds so fun