In order for free software to remain free, it becomes necessary, from
time to time, to assess its current state and purge it of its hidden
anomalies.
1. Java – The average user is annoyed by it anyway. Why do
we use it? Because people make us use it. I've never gone
out and searched for some cool java apps. Usability aside,
however, it's also not free. We need to drop java from our Linux (http://www.linux.org)
Distributions. There are some people working on an alternative (http://www.kaffe.org/), if necessary, which brings me to my next point:
2. Openoffice.org – There next version, 2.0 has a disappointingly high dependence on java (http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/22/204244&from=rss). It is now up to each distribution to make free versions of OpenOffice.org that do not contain these dependencies.
3. Macromedia Flash – With an advancing (and perhaps more
ignorant) number of web developers in the world, we are seeing more
flash-based web sites every day. Almost every movie promo site
now uses Flash exclusively. Flash is not free, and Macromedia's
Linux (http://www.linux.org) support has been questionable at best. They do not even
offer a version of their Flash development software for Linux (http://www.linux.org), which
means web developers on GNU/Linux (http://www.linux.org) platforms are left out of the flash
craze. But flash is not a web standard, and it should not
be. It's good for multimedia presentations, but it should not be
used for web site structural design. Furthermore, it's not
free. There are alternatives on the horizon (http://www.affs.org.uk/~alex/HowDoWeReplaceFlash).
A warning to Macromedia, you better use your technology wisely. I
suggest you preempt the free software movement, as Real Player (https://helixcommunity.org/forum/forum.php?forum_id=128) did and release your player under GPL. Otherwise, someone might just replace you with a free-software alternative.
I'm sure there are more of these sneaky little non-free programs out
there. Our goal should not be to condemn them. That just
makes us look like extremists. We should instead develop feasible
alternatives that can work for the average user. What Real Networks (https://helixcommunity.org/) did is highly commendable, and others should follow this example.
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