Free Software Is Even More Important Now
by RichardStallman
A substantially edited version of this article was published in Wired.
Since 1983, the Free Software Movement has campaigned for computerusers' freedom—for users to control the software theyuse, rather than vice versa. When a program respects users' freedomand community, we call it “free software.”
Since 1983, the Free Software Movement has campaigned for computer users' freedom—for users to control the software they use, rather than vice versa. When a program respects users' freedom and community, we call it “free software.” We also sometimes call it “libre software” to emphasize that we're talking about liberty, not price. Download ViceVersa Free. Keep two folders synchronized by setting up source and target, adding file filters, and choosing from different sync methods with this practical utility. Vice versa definition is - with the order changed: with the relations reversed: conversely. Dictionary Entries near vice versa. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Merriam-Webster unabridged. ViceVersa FREE is a free file synchronization software utility for Windows. Easily synchronize files and folders based upon extremely flexible criteria. By synchronizing files in one-direction only, ViceVersa FREE can also be used as a simple and efficient backup software tool.
We also sometimes call it “libre software” to emphasizethat we're talking about liberty, not price. Some proprietary(nonfree) programs, such as Photoshop, are very expensive; others,such as Flash Player, are available gratis—but that's a minordetail. Either way, they give the program's developer powerover the users, power that no one should have.
Those two nonfree programs have something else in common: they areboth malware. That is, both have functionalities designed tomistreat the user. Proprietary software nowadays is often malwarebecause the developers' powercorrupts them. That directory lists around 400 differentmalicious functionalities (as of April, 2019), but it is surely just thetip of the iceberg.
With free software, the users control the program, both individuallyand collectively. So they control what their computers do (assumingthose computers are loyaland do what the users' programs tell them to do).
With proprietary software, the program controls the users, and someother entity (the developer or “owner”) controls theprogram. So the proprietary program gives its developer power overits users. That is unjust in itself; moreover, it tempts the developer tomistreat the users in other ways.
Even when proprietary software isn't downright malicious, itsdevelopers have an incentive to make it addictive,controlling and manipulative. You can say, as does the author ofthat article, that the developers have an ethical obligation not to dothat, but generally they follow their interests. If you want this notto happen, make sure the program is controlled by its users.
Freedom means having control over your own life. If you use aprogram to carry out activities in your life, your freedom depends onyour having control over the program. You deserve to have controlover the programs you use, and all the more so when you use them forsomething important in your life.
Vice Versa Software Free
Users' control over the program requires fouressential freedoms. Download free nuendo 3 full.
(0) The freedom to run the program as you wish, for whatever purpose.
(1) The freedom to study the program's “source code”,and change it, so the program does your computing as you wish.Programs are written by programmers in a programminglanguage—like English combined with algebra—and that formof the program is the “source code”. Anyone who knowsprogramming, and has the program in source code form, can read thesource code, understand its functioning, and change it too. When allyou get is the executable form, a series of numbers that are efficientfor the computer to run but extremely hard for a human being tounderstand, understanding and changing the program in that form areforbiddingly hard.
(2) The freedom to make and distribute exact copies when you wish.(It is not an obligation; doing this is your choice. If the programis free, that doesn't mean someone has an obligation to offer you acopy, or that you have an obligation to offer him a copy.Distributing a program to users without freedom mistreats them;however, choosing not to distribute the program—using itprivately—does not mistreat anyone.)
(3) The freedom to make and distribute copies of your modifiedversions, when you wish.
The first two freedoms mean each user can exercise individualcontrol over the program. With the other two freedoms, any group ofusers can together exercise collective control over theprogram. With all four freedoms, the users fully control the program.If any of them is missing or inadequate, the program is proprietary(nonfree), and unjust.
Other kinds of works are also used for practical activities, includingrecipes for cooking, educational works such as textbooks, referenceworks such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, fonts for displayingparagraphs of text, circuit diagrams for hardware for people to build,and patterns for making useful (not merely decorative) objects with a3D printer. Since these are not software, the free software movementstrictly speaking doesn't cover them; but the same reasoning appliesand leads to the same conclusion: these works should carry the fourfreedoms.
A free program allows you to tinker with it to make it do what youwant (or cease to do something you dislike). Tinkering with softwaremay sound ridiculous if you are accustomed to proprietary software asa sealed box, but in the Free World it's a common thing to do, and agood way to learn programming. Even the traditional American pastimeof tinkering with cars is obstructed because cars now contain nonfreesoftware.
The Injustice of Proprietariness
If the users don't control the program, the program controls theusers. With proprietary software, there is always some entity, thedeveloper or “owner” of the program, that controls theprogram—and through it, exercises power over its users. Anonfree program is a yoke, an instrument of unjust power.
In outrageous cases (though this outrage has become quite usual) proprietary programs are designedto spy on the users, restrict them, censor them, and abuse them.For instance, the operating system of Apple iThings does all of these,and so does Windows on mobile devices with ARM chips. Windows, mobilephone firmware, and Google Chrome for Windows include a universal backdoor that allows some company to change the program remotely withoutasking permission. The Amazon Kindle has a back door that can erasebooks.
The use of nonfree software in the “internet of things”would turn it intothe “internetof telemarketers” as well as the “internet ofsnoopers”.
With the goal of ending the injustice of nonfree software, the freesoftware movement develops free programs so users can free themselves.We began in 1984 by developing the free operating system GNU. Today, millions of computersrun GNU, mainly in the GNU/Linuxcombination.
Distributing a program to users without freedom mistreats those users;however, choosing not to distribute the program does not mistreatanyone. If you write a program and use it privately, that does nowrong to others. (You do miss an opportunity to do good, but that'snot the same as doing wrong.) Thus, when we say all software mustbe free, we mean that every copy must come with the four freedoms,but we don't mean that someone has an obligation to offer you a copy.
Nonfree Software and SaaSS
Nonfree software was the first way for companies to take control ofpeople's computing. Nowadays, there is another way, called Service asa Software Substitute, or SaaSS. That means letting someone else'sserver do your own computing tasks.
SaaSS doesn't mean the programs on the server are nonfree (though theyoften are). Rather, using SaaSS causes the same injustices as using anonfree program: they are two paths to the same bad place. Take theexample of a SaaSS translation service: The user sends text to theserver, and the server translates it (from English to Spanish, say)and sends the translation back to the user. Now the job oftranslating is under the control of the server operator rather thanthe user.
If you use SaaSS, the server operator controls your computing. Itrequires entrusting all the pertinent data to the server operator,which will be forced to show it to the state as well—whodoes that server really serve, after all?
Primary And Secondary Injustices
When you use proprietary programs or SaaSS, first of all you do wrongto yourself, because it gives some entity unjust power over you. Foryour own sake, you should escape. It also wrongs others if you make apromise not to share. It is evil to keep such a promise, and a lesserevil to break it; to be truly upright, you should not make the promiseat all.
There are cases where using nonfree software puts pressure directlyon others to do likewise. Skype is a clear example: when one personuses the nonfree Skype client software, it requires another person touse that software too—thus both surrender their freedom.(Google Hangouts have the same problem.) It is wrong even to suggestusing such programs. We should refuse to use them even briefly, evenon someone else's computer.
Another harm of using nonfree programs and SaaSS is that it rewardsthe perpetrator, encouraging further development of that program or“service”, leading in turn to even more people fallingunder the company's thumb.
All the forms of indirect harm are magnified when the user is apublic entity or a school.
Free Software and the State
Public agencies exist for the people, not for themselves. When theydo computing, they do it for the people. They have a duty to maintainfull control over that computing so that they can assure it is doneproperly for the people. (This constitutes the computationalsovereignty of the state.) They must never allow control over thestate's computing to fall into private hands.
To maintain control of the people's computing, public agencies mustnot do it with proprietary software (software under the control of anentity other than the state). And they must not entrust it to aservice programmed and run by an entity other than the state, sincethis would be SaaSS.
Proprietary software has no security at all in one crucial case— against its developer. And the developer may help others attack.Microsoft shows Windows bugs to the NSA (the US government digitalspying agency) before fixing them. We do not know whether Apple doeslikewise, but it is under the same government pressure as Microsoft.If the government of any other country uses such software, itendangers national security. Do you want the NSA to break into yourgovernment's computers? Seeour suggestedpolicies for governments to promote free software.
Free Software and Education
Schools (and this includes all educational activities) influence thefuture of society through what they teach. They should teachexclusively free software, so as to use their influence for the good.To teach a proprietary program is to implant dependence, which goesagainst the mission of education. By training in use of freesoftware, schools will direct society's future towards freedom, andhelp talented programmers master the craft.
Vice Versa Software Free Online
They will also teach students the habit of cooperating, helpingother people. Each class should have this rule: “Students, thisclass is a place where we share our knowledge. If you bring softwareto class, you may not keep it for yourself. Rather, you must sharecopies with the rest of the class—including the program's sourcecode, in case someone else wants to learn. Therefore, bringingproprietary software to class is not permitted except to reverseengineer it.”
Proprietary developers would have us punish students who are goodenough at heart to share software and thwart those curious enough towant to change it. This means a bad education. Seehttp://www.gnu.org/education/for more discussion of the use of free software in schools.
Free Software: More Than “Advantages”
I'm often asked to describe the “advantages” of freesoftware. But the word “advantages” is too weak when itcomes to freedom. Life without freedom is oppression, and thatapplies to computing as well as every other activity in our lives. Wemust refuse to give the developers of the programs or computing servicescontrol over the computing we do. This is the right thing to do, forselfish reasons; but not solely for selfish reasons.
Freedom includes the freedom to cooperate with others. Denyingpeople that freedom means keeping them divided, which is the start ofa scheme to oppress them. In the free software community, we are verymuch aware of the importance of the freedom to cooperate because ourwork consists of organized cooperation. If your friend comes to visitand sees you use a program, she might ask for a copy. Asrock n68c-s ucc drivers download windows 7. A program whichstops you from redistributing it, or says you're “not supposedto”, is antisocial.
In computing, cooperation includes redistributing exact copies of aprogram to other users. It also includes distributing your changedversions to them. Free software encourages these forms ofcooperation, while proprietary software forbids them. It forbidsredistribution of copies, and by denying users the source code, itblocks them from making changes. SaaSS has the same effects: if yourcomputing is done over the web in someone else's server, by someoneelse's copy of a program, you can't see it or touch the software thatdoes your computing, so you can't redistribute it or change it.
Conclusion
We deserve to have control of our own computing; how can we winthis control? By rejecting nonfree software on the computers we ownor regularly use, and rejecting SaaSS. By developing freesoftware (for those of us who are programmers.) By refusing todevelop or promote nonfree software or SaaSS. By spreading these ideas to others.
We and thousands of users have done this since 1984, which is howwe now have the free GNU/Linux operating system thatanyone—programmer or not—can use. Join our cause, as aprogrammer or an activist. Let's make all computer users free.
Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar are the most predominant calenders used today as a daily reminder. Most often your daily activities require you to keep multiple calendars that servers for both business and personal use. Some might prefer to keep Google Calendar for personal events and use Microsoft Outlook Calendar for a special business task, appointments, and other commitments. For whatever might be the reasons, you may prefer to use different calendars services to serve for different purposes.
Pitfalls of using multiple Calendar Services
Managing multiple calendars is not easy, and it requires you to shuffle between the two calendars to keep track of daily reminders both for work and personal events. Moreover, we all don’t want to miss out on any important reminders from both of these calendars, and the most appropriate thing to do in this case is to sync your Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar so that you will be updated with all the reminders.
Sync Outlook Calendar with Google Calendar
However, there is no straight solution to merge reminders between these two calendars as they belong to a different platform. Earlier, Google calendar sync allowed you to sync your Google Calendar with Outlook Calendar. But later in 2013 Google discontinued Calender Synch with Outlook. Nevertheless, there are many third-party tools that help you make calendar management easier by synchronizing files and pop up notifications. In this article, we round up some of the best software to sync Outlook and Google Calendar
1. Microsoft Flow
Microsoft Flow is a cloud-based service which allows you to create automated workflows that connect two or more applications to keep the data synced. The Microsoft Flow has a vast range of new templates that help you synchronize and merge the events between the calendar across all the platforms. It keeps track of all the changes made to the events. To set the calendar synchronization in Microsoft Flow all you need to do is first create two workflows using the Microsoft Flow templates.
Create, first flow, to synch events from Google Calendar to Outlook.com Calendar and second flow to synch events from Outlook.com Calendar to Google Calendar. The two flows are needed to create a bidirectional movement of calendar reminders between Google Calendar and Outlook. The Microsoft flow synchronizes any changes to the events including adding, updating and deleting from Google Calendar to Outlook.com calendar and vice versa. Use this service here.
2. CalendarSyncPlus
Calendar Sync Plus is a free software that synchronizes Google Calendar entries to Outlook calendar and vice versa. It synchronizes the reminders, availability, event details and more in both the direction. Calendar Sync Plus allows you to set up sync frequency to either daily, weekly or interval. Additionally, you can set outlook category, event colors and also allows you to set the specified days in range or fixed data range for synchronization. It supports both automatic and manual synchronization. Download this software here.
3. Outlook Google Calendar Sync
Outlook Google Calendar Sync is a free software supported on all version of Outlook. It synchronizes calendar events, reminders, location and attendees from Outlook to Google and vice versa. It also supports bi-directional synchronization between Outlook and Google calendar. Outlook Google Calendar sync synchronizes the recurring items as a series and allows you to set up the frequency of automatic syncs including push sync from outlook.
The software tracks the events for duplication and notifies you before deleting the duplicate event. Additionally, you can also conceal custom words for privacy and force the items as private in the target calendar if you have security concerns. Download this software here.
4. Calendar Sync for Outlook and Google Calendar
Unlike the software mentioned above, Calendar Sync is a one-way sync program that allows you to either sync events from Google Calendar to Outlook with Google Calendar as master or sync events from Outlook to Google Calendar with Outlook as master. The Software is available as both a free and paid version.
The free version of the software allows syncing appointments and events. The pro version of the software has more advantages than the free version which supports bi-directional movements of all the events and offers unlimited synchronization of appointments and events. Calendar Sync allows you to sync Outlook colors and categories to Google Calendar and enables you to set a fixed period to automate the background sync. Additionally, the software allows to mask custom words for privacy and force the items as private in the target calendar if you have security concerns. Use this software here.
5. Gsuite Sync for Microsoft Outlook Calendar
Gsuite Sync for Microsoft Outlook Calendar allows you to use Microsft Outlook with G suite tool that includes Google apps like Docs, Google Calendar, Gmails and Google Drive. It syncs calendar events, attendees, locations and reminders to Google from Microsoft Outlook. It allows real-time collaboration and allows you to share your calendar from Google with other Outlook users. It supports Google two-step authentication and SSO. Use this service here.
That’s all.
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