Free Software to me is more of a lifestyle choice than just “what applications are going onto my computer”. Sure free software typically provides more features with a better community than proprietary alternatives, however, it also offers more: It teaches us that many individuals contributing small amounts of time to the greater good, can accomplish much more than a couple individuals working together to make a profit.
Living in Chevak has shown that community projects are not the idea of the hippies and communists, but a way for all sorts of people from all different types of ideologies and backgrounds to come together and make the whole better. Chevak’s people are mostly all low-income families, this is because they live with a subsistence life style. A life style that encourages free and open education and living. If one was not able to ‘catch’ enough birds, fish, or bear and moose… the rest of the community would offer a small part of theirs.
The people of Chevak can live long after any of the cities collapse, or government falls, because they already take care of themselves. It is a small libertarian (ideology not party) community, who runs itself… and does not need anyone else to tell it what to do.
Using Free and Open Source Software is like living in a small village like Chevak. There are very little bells and whistles, however, it works, and when it doesn’t you typically have a good community of people around you to help you. Its free, its liberating, and its sustainable. There will always be people who are just making bits of code, out of boredom or whatever reason, but we don’t know when Adobe is to go out of business, or stop making any of its software.
This is why I am going to look at getting funding for a few computers, and some time in the school or community center to operate a small co-op of community coders, working by donation, and side private projects. A sustainable village, working on sustainable computing practices.