About me

I am Swiss and I have been interested in computers and technology pretty much since I was born. I love working with computers and doing the unintended with them.

Well I will warn you now that what follows is a pretty long rant.

I am also quite a fan of the Free Software Foundation ever since I heard of them. This was mainly a result of me getting annoyed at companies for locking down devices only so they can get more money from people who own their devices. I find that if you don't have full control over your device and what it can run, do you really own the device?

The worst example of this is Apple. I own a couple of their devices and what they do should not be supported. I mean, why shouldn't I be able to install any app whenever I want? Why do I need to own a Mac and pay Apple money in the form of a subscription just to make an app for their platform? Why can't I just install Linux on them? Why shouldn't I even be able to install any iOS version I want, including downgrading to a lower version? Why shouldn't I be able to do what I want with the hardware I bought?

I still don't get why people buy devices like that. As some people have put it, Apple devices are a jail that is very difficult to leave. So why do people pay money to "jail" themselves?

Now I just want to say that it's not just Apple doing this. Other companies do so too, but they are less problematic. I only mentioned Apple beacuse of the sheer size of their company.

Another thing that annoys me is that using only free software (like the FSF recommends) has been made practically impossible. To live a life with only free software, you get the option of using some 2012 phone which without proprietary drivers cannot use Wifi and doesn't even have 4G support...

The computer space for only using free software isn't much better. You have to choose an Intel Core 2 Laptop because all newer ones have Intel ME inside, which requires some form of proprietary software to function. If you try removing all of that from the BIOS, your computer will shut down after 30 minutes of use. Intel ME can be remotely used to control any PC which has it over the network, and Intel ME has control over the entire system and all of it's components, including unrestricted memory access. AMD also has this and it's called AMD PSP there.

What I really wish for is a world where everybody is able to do with their devices what they want, where they truly own stuff. A world where people don't have to worry about privacy and nasty stuff hidden in their programs. A world where people are able to chose what software they want to use. That is what I want.

Well that was quite a rant wasn't it? If you want any more infos to the points I said here you can visit the GNU page covering proprietary software here. For more general infos about the Free Software Foundation click here.