Non-profit organizations increasingly depend on computers to help with day-to-day activities. Computers are very useful devices, but they are expensive and don't usually work well, thus taking time away from the organization's principal goals. An organization like TecsChange can help other organizations by providing computers and especially technical support to allow them to focus on their core goals.

TecsChange has traditionally been a provider of "wintel" equipment and expertise, i.e. they specialize in Microsoft operating systems running on PC-compatible machines. This is a good choice because the hardware is reliable and inexpensive and the software is very commonly used in commercial environments. PC-compatible hardware has very few disadvantages relative to the alternatives, but Microsoft software brings several problems along with its benefits. The most important problem is cost: Microsoft products are expensive and getting more so. Another important problem, though, is control. Microsoft has increasingly tried through various mechanisms (technical and legal) to take control away from the users. For example, the license to use Microsoft operating systems has consistently become more rigid and intrusive as the operating systems became more expensive in terms of cost and hardware requirements. Microsoft's development and support of "Digital Rights Management" also indicate that their overall strategy is to become more closely involved in how people use their computers.

Until recently, there were very few alternatives to the Wintel duopoly, and in some areas there still aren't. Macintosh computers, while easy to use, are expensive and substantially less likely to be used in a business setting (thus less likely to be donated to TecsChange). Unix workstations are both more expensive and less common. On the hardware front, then, it appears is if the PC-compatible machine is still the best option, and likely will be for several years. Since high volume drives low prices, the only way I could imagine a better cost-benefit ratio from an alternative hardware platform would be video game consoles, but that won't happen for a while.

So our focus turns to software, and a search for alternatives to Windows that work well, cost less, and allow greater freedom of use. There are many, but the most obvious (and likely most viable) is GNU/Linux. GNU/Linux is an operating system based on the Linux kernal, and including tools and technologies from many other groups. It's developed by communities organized around the World Wide Web, and has matured rapidly, especially in the last few years as corporations have begun to invest in it. IBM has committed to investing $1B in Linux annually.

The GNU/Linux operating system has two principal advantages over Windows: entry cost, and freedom of use. The entry cost is $0, so we don't need to go much further. The more important issue from the long term perspective is freedom of use. While Microsoft has been busy inventing "license management" and "digital rights management" technologies to take away their user's control, the GNU/Linux operating system is released under a license (known as the GPL) which guarantees 4 basic freedoms for all users:

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

Freedom 0 is the most important in this context, so I'll repeat it: The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.

-- TobyCabot - 13 Apr 2003