Free Open Source Software, it is time to claim the future

Nolan Hatchell-McNeil

Prof. John Horgan - HST401
28 January 2026


Free Open Source Software aka FOSS is software that is free and accessible to all users. They invite all those who are knowledgeable in the subject matter to propose changes and improvements which allows for anyone to actively participate in the development of production level software. There are many impactful projects that support our digital landscape, most notable would be GNU/Linux. Although it has an extremely low market share in the operating system market it makes up for it in powering many of our industries today including but not limited to Finance, Manufacturing, and Cloud Computing. None of these things would have been possible without the GNU project which was created by Richard Stallman under the philosophy that (Ackerman, 2023) “for the good of the world, all code should be open, without restriction or commercial intervention.” and that philosophy is the ground on which many users of FOSS carry. That philosophy empowers users to rely not on corporations for salvation, but on the community of like minded individuals to resolve issues with their personal technology. With its ability to empower users ranging from self-hosting AI models to creating terminal applications. It offers a menagerie of software tools for nearly any use case, if you have the time. 

Why is FOSS important ?  Well I think that Free Open Source Software on a large enough scale can fuel the future of technology that would undermine the usage of proprietary software and corporations. It would enable users to truly own their media and designs with the security that when these corporations fall, users will be self-reliant instead of pacified. The simplification of modern interfaces and force fed updates lull current users to not explore the true capability of their hardware. FOSS software also circumvents many of the security and privacy issues that occur when major software companies fail such as the Crowdstrike failure rendering thousands of Windows 11 computers to be rendered unusable.A poignant example of proprietary software’s harm to users is invasion of privacy and extreme data collection. An example of this would be when Microsoft added AI functionality to the Windows 11 operating system. Among the suite of supposedly “helpful” AI tools there was a feature called Recall, which allowed your computer to take “screenshots” of the user’s computer unable to discriminate between sensitive or non-sensitive data. Pointed out by the cybersecurity world (Greenberg 2024) “...if a hacker can install malicious software to gain a foothold on a target machine with the feature enabled, they can quickly gain access to the user's entire history stored by the function. ”. Recall was a feature that many had no choice to opt out of in any way. This sort of threat to users could have easily led to many day to day people getting their information stolen without realizing. That sort of blind trust in a corporation that aims to profit rather than protect is why we must cease control of our data with a firm grasp as it is the one of the most important currencies we have as individuals. 

FOSS is the future because its capabilities are in the hands of users. It empowers users to cease the means of their data produced by self-hosting important tools that no one could have access to. By controlling our data it creates anonymity from corporations who only see your data merely as a means to an end. I would encourage you to delve into the world of FOSS. When the thin veil of security is pierced by truly overt fronts on your privacy FOSS operating systems like GNU/Linux could be the difference between your every keystroke being monitored in the data warehouses of the future or to take the steps toward controlling your data.




Work cited: 

Ackermann, R. (2023, November 7). The future of open source is still very much in Flux. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/08/17/1077498/future-open-source/ 

Greenberg, A. (2024, June 7). Microsoft’s recall feature is even more hackable than you thought. Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-windows-recall-privilege-escalation/ 

Sparking change: What free software can learn from social justice movements. Sparking change: What free software can learn from social justice movements - Free Software Foundation - Working together for free software. (n.d.). https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2019/spring/sparking-change-what-free-software-can-learn-from-social-justice-movements 

What is the GNU-project?. FSFE. (n.d.). https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/gnuproject.en.html 
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