Free software on my computer

I am intrigued by Richard Stallman’s free software philosophy, and while I would not consider myself a free software fanatic, I wanted to see how much non-free software I have on my primary computer.

My primary computer is an HP Compaq dc7900. I’m running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS as my main operating system. Right now I have the following non-free software programs on it, and I think this is a representative list for many GNU/Linux enthusiasts:

  • Graphics driver
  • A few games (Sauerbraten, Urban Terror, Assault Cube)
  • Skype
  • Flash plugin
  • Microsoft fonts

These packages can be easily found by using “Virtual RMS” (ubuntu package vrms), which basically gives advice that Richard M Stallman would give if he looked at the list of software on my computer.

Web browser extensions

Then I thought I should examine the list of web browser extensions I use regularly to see if they are open source.

Chrome

Lately Chrome has been my main browser. I like Chrome’s default feature set, and I’ve only needed to add 3 extensions to it.

  • RSS Subscription Extension (by Google). I guess this really is by Google, because all the bug links on the extension info page link to crbug.com, which redirects to the chromium google code project. This doesn’t make clear which license is used.
  • Super Full Feeds for Google Reader. This extension is simple. As soon as you visit the developer website, you can see that the code license is GNU GPL v3
  • Yet Another Google Bookmarks Extension. This developer page does not make clear what license is used.

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