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| - | ====== Open Software ====== | + | ====== Open Info ====== |
| - | As our world becomes more dependent upon software, it is essential to have software that we are free to use, free to modify, and free to copy. It's not just | + | Our world is becoming more dependent upon information. Our communications, artificial intelligence, hardware, even currency and markets now depend upon information technology. But as time goes on, most of this information is becoming the private property of just a handful of corporations. We are losing our freedoms and being oppressed by these powerful monopolies. |
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| + | We the people need to create an alternative, open economy that gives equal opportunities for people all over the world. To accomplish this goal, we need an economy where everyone is free to use, study, modify, and share the works produced. | ||
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| + | ===== What is Open Info? ===== | ||
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| + | Like the free and open source software movements, we define Open Info as any work where you have: | ||
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| + | - The freedom to **use** the work | ||
| + | - The freedom to **study** the work | ||
| + | - The freedom to **modify** the work | ||
| + | - The freedom to **share** the work | ||
| + | - The freedom to **reproduce** the work | ||
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| + | ...for any purpose, without fee, without requiring permission. | ||
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| + | These five essential freedoms are what defines Open Info. We want to bring these same principles into the 21st century because we now live in an interconnected era where most than just PCs are running software. We apply the principles of Open Info to any creative work, including software, hardware, artwork, data, and more. | ||
| ===== Why Openness Matters ===== | ===== Why Openness Matters ===== | ||
| + | ==== Freedom ==== | ||
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| + | Open information gives users freedom and control over their own software. With corporate censorship on the rise, there is a serious risk that legitimate speech will get banned. For example, Christian preaching and Bible teaching all over the world is getting censored on big networks like Google, Facebook, and YouTube. Without Open Info, the Christian community is at serious risk of losing access to the Bible. | ||
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| + | As another example, corporations today often censor criticism of their company or brand, even when the complaint is truthful and valid. Many service providers ban you from writing negative reviews about their products or services from their business partners. If you are an activist for animal welfare, you may find criticism of animal cruelty censored. You could get service denied and posts deleted for revealing the wrongdoing of powerful corporations. | ||
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| + | Open Info gives you your freedom and voice back. When you have open software, hardware, data, and content, you have control over your own platform and are not dependent upon a corporation's approval. | ||
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| + | ==== Equal Access ==== | ||
| + | Closed, proprietary software is often very expensive. Buying a legal copy of Microsoft Windows, for example, can easily cost your monthly salary in a poorer country. Buying a legal Mac is something only the rich can afford. Basic tools that we need for work, like our operating system, photo editors, word processors, and movie editors often cost more than what average people in poor countries can afford. It forces them into poverty and often theft, and closed info puts them at a serious disadvantage. | ||
| - | Open software is gives users freedom and control. and networks to ensure that we have software that protects acy. | + | Even when users can afford these services, they are denied access to study, modify, and share that information. As a result, any new work they produce will become part of the property of that company rather than helping the rest of society as a whole. All this does is reinforce their monopoly and control over the disadvantaged. |
| + | Open Info is the solution. When software can be freely shared and copied, it means that the price of software will be much, much cheaper -- it will usually be free. And what is more important, it empowers the user by allowing him to study the work, make modifications, and share it with others. | ||
| + | ==== Avoiding Vendor Lock-In ==== | ||
| - | Introduction | + | Closed info providers deliberately design their systems so it is difficult or impossible to leave. They do this to ensure you become dependent on their ecosystem. For example, if you shop with Apple, you become dependent on their expensive ecosystem of iPhones and Macs. You must regularly pay them taxes in the form of new hardware/software upgrades and iCloud fees. These are part of the taxes they force you to pay. Over time, you find yourself becoming part of their property. But if you try to leave, you find it is extremely difficult to get out, often requiring months of work. This is their deliberate design -- closed info is designed to enforce economic feudalism. |
| - | Playing GTA or any proprietary game is for fun and it is true we don't have opensource games like that. Companies spend a lot money hiring professionals to make sure end user gets the best experience possible. | + | |
| - | On the other side opensource softwares can have a lot of bugs as nobody is paying them to do it. Nobody is going to ask them at the end of the month why didn't they do their job properly. Opensource is more like a hobby thing which people do in their free times. | + | When designs follow open protocols, open standards, and open designs, it has much greater interoperability. You become the owner of your own info. Your data, software, and hardware are free, so you can choose any provider from the marketplace. In fact, you could become your own provider. You are no longer forced to pay unreasonable prices, and you are no longer treated like chattel. No more abusive monopolies! |
| - | It can be novice people who have no experience and they have just started working on projects or they can be professionals who after doing their daily jobs spend time working on opensource. | + | |
| - | But wait ircnow is different! it's a project people are not doing as hobby or part time. But it's a platform where professional and new players like myself are putting their time on. Ircnow will grow and go at par with big corps one day. Inshallah! | + | ==== Privacy ==== |
| - | Why one should use and prefer opensource over proprietary? | + | Open Info is the only |
| - | As I said before opensource softwares can have a lot bugs while the proprietary ones for the same purpose can be bug free. It is about how much time is given to a project. In proprietary they spend days and nights to make sure their end product is bug free. But in opensource it takes time. Opensource highly depends on donations often but actually many a times opensource projects make a lot of money doing these projects too. | + | ==== Control and Customization ==== |
| - | To come to the point why do we need to use opensource. As we know proprietary companies make their products with the sole purpose to make profits out of them. They keep their code secret because they don't want others to use their code and benefit out of it just like they are doing. It gets selfish yes. Not sharing your work with other people. Having a mindset of racing with other people and getting to higher levels while keeping others at lower level. Something we read about Illuminati pyramid system. Anyways, if you use and support opensource then you serve humanity so all people can benefit from your work you put effort into all your life. So after you are gone it is sadqah for you to earning good deeds. | + | and networks to ensure that we have software that protects acy. |
| - | ===== Personal Reasons ===== | ||
| - | A yahoo employee who had access to yahoo user's databases logged into their accounts and watched their personal information including their private pictures of their families. | + | ==== Cultural ==== |
| - | I could be sharing such things over whatsapp, gmail, facebook and information can be sensitive like my bank account, my girlfriend's pictures, my plannings on doing activism etc. | + | ==== Cost-effective ==== |
| - | Once a neighbor of mine had a lot of money to deposit in his bank. He just put all money in a bag went out in car to deposit in his bank and all of a sudden robbers on road showed up and the first thing they asked was give to us your money bag! | + | ==== Education and Transparency ==== |
| - | ===== Economic Reasons ===== | + | |
| - | ===== Freedom Reasons ===== | + | ==== Quality ==== |
| - | ===== Four Freedoms ===== | + | ==== Transparency ==== |
| + | ==== Community ==== | ||
| + | Our team's [[opensoftware:contract|contract]] to each other and to our users. | ||