Q&A: Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation

Why do you spend so much time focusing on pushing free software use in places such as Venezuela and India?

That question may give people the wrong idea: each year I give more talks in the US than in Venezuela or India. But I do spend a lot of time travelling and giving speeches in many countries.

Venezuela, like Ecuador, has an official policy that government agencies must migrate to free software. In India, three states are migrating the public schools to GNU/Linux. I wish that the US could show that much interest in the freedom of computer users.

Do you think public authorities should be leading the way with free software?

Every public agency has a duty to maintain its control over its computing, as a matter of sovereignty. Using a non-free program means giving the program's developer control over that computing. Thus, public agencies must reject proprietary software and move to free software. Venezuela and Ecuador are on the right track.

Should charities such as Computer Aid International, which distributes second-hand PCs and laptops worldwide to developing countries, only be transporting GNU operating systems, even if this means fewer schools get computers?

You can put GNU/Linux on almost any machine, so sticking to free software isn't likely to mean a significant reduction in the computers they donate. But, for the sake of argument, let's imagine that were not so. When people talk about the "digital divide", they implicitly suppose that using computers is good and not having them is bad. But is it a good thing to give people computers with Windows or other proprietary software?

People who use proprietary software surrender to the power of the program's developer. It's a social problem, which we should try to eliminate - not spread. Distributing computers with Windows is spreading dependency, leading society down the wrong path. It's better to go slowly to the right place than go quickly to the wrong place.

How does the use of free software fit into the tough economic climate? Some argue that the recession is an indictment of the capitalist system - is this a fair view?

[Free software fits in] just the same as it did before. In good times and bad, you deserve freedom. I consider the recession an indictment of the deep corruption that is rife because companies have too much political power - unjust copyright laws are another result of the same basic problem.

Clearly there's a cost saving element - but how about the people that had jobs with commercial firms, but are then made redundant because customers decide to go with free software instead and no longer need support from commercial suppliers?

This scenario seems to be based on a misconception. Migrating to free software doesn't reduce the market for support. Users that bought commercial support when they used proprietary software generally continue wanting commercial support when they switch to free software. One of the advantages of free software is that it permits a free market for support.

But there's something more fundamentally screwy in this scenario: confusion about values. It seems to presume that users will - or is it should? - let a company have unjust power over them for the sake of increasing that company's income. When you are collecting for this perverse form of charity, you can count me out. I see no positive value in a program that requires people to cede their freedom as a condition of use.

I certainly won't use it myself. I launched the GNU Project in 1983 specifically to make it possible to get away from proprietary software. Now that I have escaped, I am not going back. I hope to see the day when nobody is employed in developing or promoting proprietary software.