Free Software Lifestyle

[sweetandy]

Hi, my name's Andrew, and I'm a Junior in high school. I predominantly
use an Ubuntu computer. Before that, it was Debian, but before that it
was Mac OS X. I now use my Mac extremely rarely, if at all. On my
Ubuntu computer, I refuse to use proprietary drivers, I refuse to
install the Adobe Flash Player, and I simply refuse to have any
software but free software. I bring a dynebolic CD with me to school
and boot it when I want to use a computer there because I refuse to
use the entirely non-free software. It's a tough lifestyle to keep up,
only using Free Software, but it's becoming increasingly easier in
2007 and on.

It's difficult to be "hip" online with my friends without the ability
to fully use YouTube or complicated flash programs integrated into
Facebook, the social networking site. I can't play the games they want
me to play, I can't "tag" their "wall" in certain ways. I simply
refuse to participate, and it set me in a poor position in their eyes,
as if this is a fault it's cool to attack. I can't play their Windows
games, and I publicly boycott pretty much everything the average teen
does on his computer, including downloading music and video illegally.
I just don't roll that way, and I make it clear to people that I
don't. If they say, "you can just get it off of Limewire," or "I'll
burn you a copy," I respond and say, "That's illegal. I don't need to
hear the song that badly."

As I've stated before, the result of this behavior is that I become a
social outcast standing up for what I believe. I know that many do not
agree, but I see this as the right thing to do and I don't see another
logical way of living my life. The Free Software Lifestyle, though,
sets me in a position that is difficult to deal with not in a life-
long sense (because that's the easy part), but in a day-to-day sense
in dealing with others. I'm making this post to ask the people of the
Internet about their experiences and their thoughts on this, what is
to me, amazing lifestyle. How has it touched your life?

--Andrew