Theosogphy and the Free Software movement

[David Melik]

The Free Software movement (http://www.fsf.org/) has principles in common with the objects of Theosophy.

Free Software Philosophy is:
* brotherly, because it wants the main idea and method of software to be that it universally aids society
* comparative, because anyone, such as more than a few good scientists, are able to work on the software and improve it and Computer Science that way--and anyone's good input is probable to be accepted quickly
* investigative, because an important idea in it is the 'hacking power' latent in scientists--i.e. the power to do excellent programming, math, etc., similar to the topic of 'consciousness hacking.'

Using Free Software rather than software that is based on commodity economics is more Theosophical. Paying for software that is kept by a few is more like supporting religions/cults that keep information to themselves and that consider profit at least as important as the teaching--if they even give any. 'Open Source' also allows some of those flaws and is not as beneficial as 'Free Software.' I can give more in-depth details and examples.

If you want any help with Free Software for Theosophical or personal use you may ask at the FSF site or http://www.trygnulinux.com/. I am a member of both, though I may not necessarily be the first person available to help with a topic.

I just wanted to point out this topic in my science that is very relevant to Theosophical thought. If you are a biologist, chemist, Earth scientist, etc., please point out what social ideals are relevant in your science that society ignores maybe just because sometimes it is too hard for people to figure out.

[Maxim Bardin]

I'm actually using GNU/Linux and FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) for several years now.

I'm happy to see that GNU/Linux user base is growing every year, sometimes people use it without even knowing it.