Another way I'm a geek.

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) which I'm proud to be a member of has featured a testimonial I gave on the benefits of Free Software for the home user. Yes it's really geeky, but I like to give out as many reasons as I can to have my underwear pulled up over my pants.

I use free software at home for personal use simply for the principal. I believe that the ability to modify and redistribute source code is fundamental to innovation and progress.

I get the added benefit that free software has many of the newest and greatest features that traditional proprietary software just can't offer. Take Firefox vs. MS Internet Explorer for instance, look at all the great features that Firefox has: tabbed browsing, Live Bookmarks, plug-ins. Internet Explorer is months if not years behind on these technologies.

Other programs I use are Open Office and The Gimp. Two amazing applications that allow me to interface with the 'proprietary' world. It's amazing how powerful of a tool The Gimp is compared to it's proprietary counterpart, Adobe Photoshop; it's too bad that more people don't know about it.

We live in a culture where small contributions can be replicated throughout society. For this reason, one individual who decides to modify some source code or make a plug-in for a free software tool can have their efforts duplicated a thousand fold. These small contributions lead to progress.

Vincent Lauria

Why not become a member and donate to a cause?