> My collaborators and I have previously argued for local-first software, which is a response to these problems with cloud software. What’s ironic is that this

> My collaborators and I have previously argued for local-first software, which is a response to these problems with cloud software. What’s ironic is that this was actually Microsoft’s vision of computing. Bill Gates wanted your Windows Desktop, that you installed local applications on, to be the hub for your computing life. However, powered by open source software such as Linux and GCC, companies were able to shift the locus of computing from the user’s computer to their computers. This has resulted in a huge loss of control for the average user. Their data now is no longer owned by them in a technical sense. Whereas in the past, even with closed source software, they owned their data, and worst case, someone could reverse engineer the machine code to modify the software. Now with cloud software, there is zero chance of that. In some ways, the FSF helped catalyze even greater loss of user freedom.