Bit Prepared II: Richard Stallman Meets the World Scout Bureau

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) promotes computer users' rights to
use, modify and redistribute free (as in freedom, regardless of
price) software and documentation. All around the world, national and
international organizations
exist that independently take their inspiration from the writings of
Baden-Powell, who started Scouting in 1907.

What could Baden-Powell have in common with FSF? Nothing, except
a few essential ethical principles. In
"Bit Prepared, Part I,
I wrote, "[GNU/] Linux and the whole FLOSS movement do appear as the soul
of Scouting made software: the first, if not only, kind of IT technology that should
to Scouts, or used by their leaders".

After writing that article, I was contacted by the
World Organization of the Scout Movement
(WOSM), an umbrella body that brings together Scout organizations from more than 150
countries. Implementation of the WOSM policies adopted by the World
Scout Conference largely is delegated to a professional body, the
World Scout Bureau (WSB). I asked the WSB and FSF if they would be to have representatives
meet on-line to discuss my theses and to find out if and how WOSM should use
products and practices from the free software movement in its activities.

The initial feedback from both organizations was encouraging. Richard M. Stallman, founder of
FSF, said, "[The Bit Prepared article] is very interesting.... You may
succeed in starting something very useful with this." WOSM never had
addressed itself directly to the question of adopting particular IT
policies at a world level, but according to Ray Saunders, WSB
Director, Information Technology, "the synergy between the ideals of
Scouting and the principles under-pinning the Open Source community is
indeed evident." Starting from there, I engaged Richard and Ray in the
e-mail interview that follows.

Marco Fioretti: What is free software?

Richard Stallman: Free software is software that users are free to run, study,
change and redistribute. It means that you are free to adapt it to
your needs and free to help others by sharing it. By contrast,
non-free software prohibits cooperation.

Fioretti: In the "Bit Prepared" article,
I listed some affinities between the philosophy of Scouting and that of the Free
Software movement. What do you think about them?

Stallman: That such similarities should exist does not surprise me,
because ideas of self-reliance and the importance of helping your
neighbor circulate in our society and will pop up in various
places. However, I think it was a good stroke of insight on your part
to notice this particular similarity.

Ray Saunders: I think we can all agree that the good practices evident in the
Free Software community seem to me to be entirely consistent with the
method and ideals represented in Scouting today.

Fioretti: Does the WOSM currently recommend the use of any specific
software product?

Saunders: No, for the very reasons that are stated in your introduction above.

Fioretti: What are the criteria currently used by the World Scout Bureau
when choosing software for internal use?

Saunders: We try to select the most appropriate software according to our
needs and, of course, our means. Cost is a very important criteria for
us. When we spend money, we are spending our members money. The World
Scout Bureau primarily but not exclusively uses Apple Macintosh
computers. As we migrate to Mac OS X, the possibilities for us to use
open source and free software are now much wider than they were just a
couple of years ago. As a result, open source and free software
solutions are now actively being considered alongside the commercial
products we currently use. We are already upgrading some of the
commercial software we used previously to open source or free software
alternatives. [Editors' Note: Other success stories of Scouts using free
software can be found in the comments to "Bit Prepared" posted by Ray
and Gino Lucrezi of Global Scoutnet.

Fioretti: Do the Free Software Foundation and GNU
recommend the usage of only the software they produce? If yes, why? If not, how does one
choose to adopt any software program, regardless of its origin?

Stallman: It's not who was the developer, it's whether he respects your
freedom that matters. If you want to live in freedom, you've got to
reject software that tramples your freedom. You shouldn't stand for
software that keeps you helpless or forbids helping others. When a
program is free software, that means you and others can see what it
does. So you can listen to other people in the community who have
studied it and used it and thus decide whether you want to use it. If
you really are concerned about what the program does, you can read the
code yourself.

Fioretti: Many national Scout organizations have Merit Badge systems that
aim to help young members learn practical skills in a variety of
disciplines. Software and Internet already are proposed as Merit Badge
subjects in many associations. Is there any policy requesting that the
candidate must know the difference between proprietary and free software? At
least to know when and how it is right and legal to copy and
redistribute programs?

Saunders: Any such policy would be a matter for the national Scout
organization proposing the merit badge to its members. I would hope
that in the face of today's reality of pirated software, the issues
surrounding copyright and licensing would be addressed in some form
within the relevant requirements. That approach certainly would
provide ample opportunity to raise awareness about the differences to
which you refer. It also should improve knowledge about the
availability of open-source and free software solutions to the wider
community.

Fioretti: Do you have any suggestions or comments regarding
the merit badge requirements list proposed in the "Bit Prepared" article?

Stallman: I think they look fine.

Saunders: There are a couple of places I might want to substitute "discuss"
with "demonstrate", but they represent a good starting point for any
national Scout organization thinking of introducing or reviewing a
computer merit badge scheme today.

Fioretti: Should a Scout association decide to try or switch to free
software or at least free formats and protocols, where can it find
help from the free software community?

Stallman: Look in
www.gnu.org/directory for our list of over
3,500 ready-to-use free software packages that run on GNU/Linux. If
you're considering using a program that isn't in the directory,
www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html
can help you judge whether a license qualifies as free. If you live in a city, there are
people in the city who know how to use GNU/Linux. There probably is a
user group there. If you approach them asking them to help your troop
switch, they probably will be glad to help. [Editors' Note: Two on-line lists
of user groups can be found here
and here.]

Fioretti: Ray, what about support from within WOSM, besides Global Scoutnet?

Saunders: I'm not aware of Scout-specific resources addressing directly
this topic. Perhaps your readers can inform me otherwise? There are a
number of software applications related to Scout activities, developed
by Scouts and made available to other Scouts to use, though not always
free. Some are listed at David Jansen's
InterNETional Scouting and Guiding Pages.
The
UNESCO's Free Software Portal
also is a very helpful starting point.

The
Jamboree on the Internet (JOTI), an
annual event during which Scouting experiences are exchanged and ideas
are shared, contributes knowledge to the world brotherhood of
Scouting. During JOTI, as many as half-a-million Scouts from all over
the world make contact with one another using the full range of
operating systems and software, much of it using open-source
software. Certainly there's the opportunity within that event for a
bit more research on these issues. This year's event runs October 16-17.

Fioretti: Will there be a specific forum devoted to these issues as part of JOTI?
If yes, could I or Richard participate to represent the free software
community?

Saunders: Not as far as I am aware this year, but it's a good suggestion for
the future. Full information about this year's events can be found by
following the links from our
Web site.

Fioretti: Ray brought some interesting Scout
documents to my attention.
Strategic Priority #7
of the current World Scout Strategy says, "Effective
communications are vital to all aspects of Scouting.... Modern
technologies offer Scouting many new techniques for doing this, more
effectively, more efficiently and at a lower cost". Eduardo Missoni,
WOSM Secretary General, also said in
his speech
at the 2004 European Scout Conference, "According to our principles and values, we will be in the front line
in exploring and adopting open, universally accessible and appropriate
technologies". Richard, were you aware of this? What do you think?

Stallman: One could interpret this as meaning free software, but one
also could interpret it in other weaker ways.

Fioretti: I agree, but the statements above seem to match perfectly the
recommendations I made at the end of "Bit Prepared". For example,
all Scout organizations should make sure their Web sites are
viewable with
any browser and,
above all, don't accept or distribute documents in proprietary formats,
as
Richard suggested some time ago.

Saunders: I welcome the anybrowser.org campaign. Internationally agreed
standards should not be subsequently enhanced to commercial
advantage, which often renders the results incompatible with
standards-compliant browsers. We need to check our own sites from time
to time and ensure that we are achieving maximum accessibility for
users based on the agreed standards, not the modified versions created
largely by proprietary products and tools.

We must distinguish here between good and bad practices in the field
of proprietary formats. For example, I would describe a proprietary
format for which the proprietor provides freely available reader
software (such as Adobe does for its proprietary portable document
format .pdf) as an acceptable practice. As a result, I am happy to
distribute and receive documents in that format. My core sensitivity
is that the recipient of any item I send should not have to go out and
purchase a proprietary product in order to read my content.

Proprietary products using open standards for their file types also
sit comfortably in my portfolio of acceptable solutions. You get what
you pay for and can migrate to another product with relative ease,
because the content you have produced is not locked-in to the creative
tool.

Stallman: A zero-price but secret
reader program still would take the user's freedom even if it did
not take the user's money. What makes the PDF format open--thus,
not proprietary--is its documentation is public and, aside from
the newest features that mostly are not used, it is not covered by
patents, so anyone can implement it. I use free software to use PDF files.

Fioretti: Of course, the easiest way to prepare a migration to free
software or, at least, to achieve universal accessibility is to switch
as soon as possible to free cross-platform programs, such as the
communication suite Mozilla and, above all,
OASIS office file formats through
OpenOffice.org. Doing so would guarantee that
every Scout always could access Scout information, that e-mail could be
signed digitally according to standards and that Web sites could be
generated for the widest possible audience. After these steps, every
single Scout or Scout unit then would be free to decide if, when and
how to make a complete transition to free software.

Now, let's assume the WSB fully accepts this policy. Ray, may we ask
you to explain what procedure the WSB should follow to officially
embrace it; if and how it could request or suggest that the national
associations do the same; and how official practical guidelines could
be provided to facilitate its adoption?

Saunders: We like to talk about learning by doing
in Scouting. So my message to any Scout reading this is to make a personal commitment now
to get involved and try some free software for yourself, as I have
done. For example, I'm currently involved in the alpha test of
NeoOffice/J,
the great Java implementation of OpenOffice.org 1.1.2 created by Patrick
Luby for us Mac OS X users. It's important that
as many Scouts as possible contribute to this process of change
from a position of personal experience. So, the first guideline might
be best expressed as, "Think globally. Act locally!"

Second, I think it will be important to ensure that the young people
attending our World Scout events encounter open source and free
software on the computers put at their disposal on those
occasions. This already has happened with success during the last
World Scout Jamboree in Thailand, for example. I remind you again that
much of the annual Jamboree on the Internet already is functioning on
open-source software solutions, so that is another area where our
young members and their adult leaders can gain practical, hands-on
experience using free software.

Third, I think it is essential to be able to demonstrate that the use of
open-source software, such as OpenOffice, is a reality in the Central
Office of the World Scout Bureau. We have started providing our
internal stationery templates in OpenOffice.org format files, and a number
of the team in Geneva already have migrated to using OpenOffice.org. I'm
pleased to include Eduardo Missoni amongst those users reporting that
they are very satisfied with the experience. So, professionally, we've
already begun to play our small part in the process of creating
momentum for change.

All these successful experiences then can be used to promote the use
of free and open-source software to others, such as the leaders of
national Scout organizations and the volunteers serving on the World
Scout Committee or on our regional Scout committees.

I believe that taking practical steps, such as these I've outlined
above, will create the necessary critical mass required to bring about
policy changes inside our national member organizations that,
ultimately, can result in them collectively choosing to adopt policies
to be promoted at the world level.

Stallman: I have to point out that to contrast free software with
commercial software is like contrasting tall people with thin
people. Some free software is commercial (developed by businesses),
just as some tall people are thin. Copies of free software often are
sold for a price; meanwhile, some non-free programs are available
gratis.

The issue is not about business and not about price--it's about
freedom. Free software respects the user's freedom; non-free software
does not. If a program is free, you can "leave it better than you
found it" if you so wish, and that's where free software meets the
spirit of Scouting.

When choosing any given program, I suggest you verify that it is free
software and that it can run on a free platform. MacOS is not free
and neither is the usual Java platform. So, if NeoOffice/J depends on
them, it cannot be used without limiting your freedom.

Saunders: Using enabling technologies in the short term that
allow many more people to try out free or open-source software now may be
limiting, in Richard's view, but if it helps more people get on the bus and
take a tour for themselves, that should be to the benefit
of an organization such as FSF, as awareness and support for free (as
in freedom) software grows. And that, I believe, is in everyone's best
interests.

Fioretti: I am glad to hear all this for two reasons. The first is,
from now on, it will be hard for any Scout to ignore the ideals
of free software and the importance of communicating through truly
open technologies. The second reason is the approach described by Ray makes
it possible for single Scouts or Scouts units to migrate to free
software if and when they choose, in the smoothest possible way.

I therefore conclude this interview with four short invitations. The first
is to all Scouts: please try the software Ray and Richard mention and contact
the closest GNU/Linux user group for help. The second is to all supporters of
free software, starting with OpenOffice.org and Mozilla: send this article and "Bit Prepared" Part I or
bring it by hand to the closest Scout group and offer your help to try
free software. Next, to make all this easier, everybody who can
translate both articles in other languages, please
mfioretti@mclink.it contact me. Last but not least, any
other organization inspired by Baden-Powell is welcome to contact me; I am
eager to know what you think of free software.

Thanks to Richard and Ray for their time.