TedPage: Free by choice

One of my favorite features of the open source revolution is that it is entirely optional. If you want to continue to used closed source software, go ahead. If you want to have your data in formats that you can't guarantee support for in the future, go ahead. Open source isn't removing your old choices, it's just adding another one. It's all about choice.

I think that this is a key feature of the announcement that there will be GStreamer support for DRM in the future. (I realize it was a while ago, but it's still relevant and bugging me) I don't like most DRM systems that exist today, and I don't think they support reasonable business models. While this opinion is supported by many free software enthusiasts, the support of DRM in GStreamer is controversial. Many feel that supporting DRM systems on a free system encourages their adoption in general, which is a net loss. I believe that free software should continue to be the platform of choice.

We want people to choose Open Source for the right reasons, because they think it is the place they want to be. It solves their problems. It makes them happier. Even if they believe all these things, their transition can't be one where they loose all their data. The music they've purchased, the books that they've read or the files they've created. Sure, if they've come for the right reasons all their future music will be Ogg Vorbis, but what about the past?

While I've talked about this in the past I continue to believe that this is an important feature for Open Source systems. It is as important as Open Office supporting Word files. It's important that Open Source remains about choice.