I open my laptop after I arrive to the office, I start writing Python code in a Jupyter notebook. I query a PostgreSQL database, I use libraries like Pandas, Scikit-learn and Keras. Then when it’s time to productionise the code snippets I have written, I write my code using Atom or VIM and push it to AWS.
Everything in bold is Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), except for AWS. I even checked their licenses. It’s clear, FOSS has won the battle, no more evil Microsoft SQL server, no Visual Basic, nothing of these closed source softwares anymore, yay!
Then I leave the office, I listen to music on Spotify on my way back home, I watch movies on Netflix. The photos I take on the weekend, I edit and share them on Instagram. I chat with family and friends on Whatsapp and I do almost all of these on my phone and tablet, whose operating systems and iOS and Android.
Everything in bold is not Free nor Open Source Software, even Android, some say it is open source, but definitely it is not a free software.
Most of the open source software advocates I know are content with the first paragraph, and cannot see beyond it. They think open source software has won the war, but I believe it actually won few battles but lost the war, at least for now, and here is why:
