From 4037d37aadaf1653da21cafa469763092e2e3b4b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Alain Reguera Delgado Date: Oct 29 2011 13:51:58 +0000 Subject: Update `Preface/overview.docbook'. --- diff --git a/Manuals/Tcpi-ug/Preface/overview.docbook b/Manuals/Tcpi-ug/Preface/overview.docbook index cb425d6..8f85902 100755 --- a/Manuals/Tcpi-ug/Preface/overview.docbook +++ b/Manuals/Tcpi-ug/Preface/overview.docbook @@ -4,23 +4,22 @@ On April 2009, I decided to stop working for cuban State. This - decision emerged itself on me from an increasing feeling of - repression against system administrators by cuban State which - might be acceptable when one chooses to agree with the - limitations and play the game. When you don't agree with them - and try to find an alternative way to express yourself - differently, you'll realize that the cuban political system - lacks of such independent alternatives for anyone to use. I - don't pretend to use this book to detail the political system - I live on, but I do want to say that the more I involve with - the cuban political system the more distance I feel between - the most pure of myself and the actions the system expect from - me to do. However, it is motivating how oneself can realize - about such things thank to bright minds like Mr. Richard - Stallman with his philosophy about freedom and an immense - free software community under constant development which - provides the medium to express the free-software philosophy as - way of living. + decision emerged with the increasing feeling of repression + I experimented when one, as system administrator, isn't agree + with the restrictions impossed by the State and try to find an + alternative way to express differently. In this situation one + can realize that the cuban political system lacks of such + independent alternatives for anyone to use. I don't pretend + to use this book to detail the political system I live on, but + I do want to say that the more I got involved with the cuban + political system the more distance I felt between the most + pure of myself and the actions the system expected from me to + do. However, it is motivating to see how people could realize + about such things thank to bright minds like Mr. Richard + Stallman with his philosophy about freedom and an immense free + software community under constant development which provides + the medium to express the free software philosophy as way of + living. @@ -29,48 +28,76 @@ reaching a technology independency which is quiet contradictory to me. What independency we are talking about here? Independency for whom, and from whom? The only way - I see for the cuban State to reach the independency it looks - for (as long as I understand its political system) is creating - and maintaining an entire infrastructure (e.g., computers, - network devices, operating systems, etc.,) of its own without - any intervention from the outside. Otherwise, the cuban State - will be inevitably attached to someone that may differ from it - and that is something unacceptable because may compromise the - former idea. If you think this is what cuban State needs, I - have to say that it is one of the most nonsense idea one can - ever think of, specially when you consider the the way - international communities of free software and hardware - providers interact one another in the modern world. + I see for the cuban State to reach the independency it looks for + (as long as I understand its political system) would be + creating and maintaining an entire infrastructure (e.g., + computers, network devices, operating systems written from + scratch, etc.,) inside its political boundaries without any + intervention from the outside. Otherwise, the cuban State + would be inevitably attached to someone that can differ from + it and, that is something unacceptable for the cuban State + because would compromise the former idea it initially had + about its independency. - The free software emerged from people who know what freedom - is. It is impossible to defend freedom if one don't feel what - it is. The cuban State never talks (at least on the public - media) of introducing free software for freeing the society of + The cuban State is misunderstanding or confusing the real + meaning of free software. The free software is made by people + and dedicated to anyone whom might be in need of it, with the + hope of being useful and garantee the freedom of computer + users. The cuban State introduces free software because it is + free in the sense of price, not in the sense of freedom. The + cuban State uses free software as another impositions to + control what software does people use and which one don't. + Some people might see that it is free software anyway, but + think again: Shouldn't you have the oportunity to decide what + free software to use, and also what community you join to? No + one must impose you anything about which social community you + participate in, that is a decision you need to take yourself. + Sadly, the medium where such free software communities live in + (i.e., Internet) is only available for institutions related to + cuban State making it very difficult for cuban people without + any political relation with the cuban State to make decitions + like that and integrate any free software community at all. I + strongly beleive that, for the free software to reach cuban + people, free software communities must be accessable for cuban + people first, so the cuban talent can be added to free + software philosophy. However, till the cuban State be + controlling inbetween how the cuban people can or cannot + integrate an specific way of living to its own, there will be + no free software in Cuba, nor any freedom for the cuban people + to make use of. + + + + It is impossible to defend freedom if one doesn't feel what it + is. The cuban State never talks (at least on the public media) + of introducing free software for freeing the cuban society of privative software. In fact, if you compare the privative software and the way cuban State operates the information - area, based on the resolution 149 emitted by the Minister of + media, based on the resolution 149 emitted by the Minister of Informatics and Telecomunications (MIT), you may find them - very similar. There is a very strict control over all the + very similar. There is an obsession by controlling all the information media on the country and they cannot be used to - other purposes different to those defined by the State. For - example, to reach Internet access, cuban people need to be - working for the State somehow and that way comply with the - politics impossed by it about information management. There is - no a legal way for cuban people to contract an Internet - service at home. The most one can do in Cuba to share data is - trying to resolve a fixed telephone line at - home to gain access to the telephone network and then use it - to transmit data using computers. The telephone network most - people have access to, however, there are limitations in the - number of simultaneous connections that can be performed and - finding the Modem devices required. + purposes others than those defined by the State. For example, + to reach Internet access, cuban people need to be working for + the cuban State somehow and that way comply with the politics + impossed by it about information management which is strict, + at the point of denying service based on restrictions. There + is no a legal way for cuban people to contract an Internet + service at home. The most one can do in Cuba to share data + with friends is trying to resolve a fixed + telephone line at home to gain access to the cuban telephone + network and then use it to transmit data using computers. The + telephone network is the communication medium most people have + access to, however, there are limitations in the number of + simultaneous connections that can be performed and finding the + Modem devices required. Modem devices aren't available on stores. In fact, the few computation hardware available on stores has prices that - very few people can pay for (making this another - limitation for average poeple). + almost no one can pay for (making this another limitation + for average poeple).