A Case for Open-Source Software
The last few years an increasing trend have surfaced moving everything towards online services. Applications used to be safely stored on our computer, bought once, used forever without fear for our personal data or downtime. Now we struggle to keep up with dozens of subscriptions required for our everyday work. What changed? Why are we as freelancers encouraged to buy more and more services and maintain the status quo?
THE INTERNET PROBLEM
Freelancing isn’t new. Independent workers have existed for decades. But up until a decade ago, internet hasn’t matured enough to realize the dream of online storage and collaboration that every freelancer wished for. As the connection speeds get faster and faster though that dream is finally starting to be realized by more and more people. It is now possible to have applications that are decentralized without fear of any downtime. It is possible that we can have real time communication and collaboration with people all over the world. All of this while being anonymous and free to say and read anything without being confined in the borders of any country. That was the idea at least.
In the last few years though, companies have realized their own vision of how the internet should be. They envisioned it doing two things, before the governments stepped in that is. Harvest and sell private data on the one hand, and increase their profits by commercializing whatever they could on the other. The first is a matter for another post. The second though is a direct cause of the state the internet is today. They developed rushed solutions so they can profit as soon as possible. Where did that lead them though? We pay a fee for every year or month we use a service. But have things changed for the better as they advertised they were?
Can they guarantee that the application will be there tomorrow? Of course not.
Can they guarantee that our personal data that is stored on their computer won’t get hacked and revealed all over the world? No. They have been hacked multiple times and either they didn’t say so as not to cause “panic” or they promised to be more careful next time.
Their solution for collaboration and communication is to take every control that we had and move it to the cloud using their broken technology. And the funny thing is not only do they can’t protect the data they supposedly promise to protect, they can’t even protect themselves against threats like the government asking for their data or hackers taking down their service for days.
THE FREELANCE CULTURE
So if things aren’t all that certain why are Freelancers encouraged to use those Commercialized services, especially Digital Nomads who tend to have unstable internet? I think it is because of two reasons.
First, most services right now are big companies who moved to the cloud after seeing the opportunity. People used them for years and can’t imagine using anything else. They are seen as the only true solution by companies and consumers due to their marketing and the familiarity of the company. Thankfully the year there has been an increasing number of startups that shows hope for the future. Most people are afraid of change but there are people who are paving the way towards a future I want to be part of and help build.
The second one is more complicated. I believe that there is bias towards open-source decentralized services. Most people seem to believe that if a service is being made or doesn’t have support from a big company then it is not for professional use. That if the only thing behind the service for support is a community and the people that develop it are doing it on their spare time then it can’t be used. I disagree completely with this notion. I believe that this software solves most of the problems of services today. Your data is safe there because it is decentralized and because the people developing the software are not companies looking for profit. They are people wanting to make good software. It is also impossible to take down the service because it isn’t anywhere. It is everywhere.
FUTURE
So what can we do to improve the cloud in the future? In my opinion Freelancers should be the ones moving the internet towards decentralization and open-source software. We do almost everything everyday on the internet. We should be the ones leading by example and motivating the change their habits because a free internet benefits everyone. Besides we didn’t leave the trap of the office to go to the trap of the freelance services.