TheAlternative.ch is the digital arm of the [Student Sustainability Commission] (formerly known as [project21]) of the VSETH. Our goal is to draw attention to sustainable interaction with knowledge and culture in the digital age, as well as encourage the use and comprehension of Free and Open Source Software as an alternative to proprietary software. As a result, we are the largest Linux community at both the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and the University of Zürich, and each semester we offer courses to introduce newcomers to the basics of the Linux kernel and the various Linux-based operating systems. Our courses are free to attend for all students of both ETH Zürich and the University of Zürich. Furthermore, we promote similar open alternatives in other areas (such as Creative Commons, Public Domain, Project Gutenberg etc.) as well as fairness and privacy on the Internet in the forms of Net Neutrality, Tor and Cryptography.

Why is Free Software important? In the 21st century, the significance of digital knowledge has undeniably grown to be of considerable importance and is continuing to find its way into more and more aspects of our everyday life, making it ever the more so essential to be able to freely access and use that knowledge. Most software projects created today are standing on the shoulders of giants, building on and/or utilizing algorithms and tools as components in order to create more complex and better software for the benefit of us all.

However, old Intellectual Property laws and paradigms, such as Patents, Copyrights and Digital Rights Management mechanisms, may inhibit the potential of software to be used in such a beneficial manner, forcing the software developer to build components from ground-up instead of being able to reuse previously developed software. To prevent this from occuring, one can use alternative software licenses (such as the GPL), which all allow for the free reuse of software under various different conditions.

It is due to this and many more aspects why we think it's important to have a sustainable approach in digital life.