📜 The PlebWare Founding Manifesto
Technology Should Remain Connected to Humanity
🔑 Preamble
We, the architects, engineers, writers, educators, and users of PlebWare, affirm this manifesto as a declaration of purpose, principle, and vision. PlebWare exists to demonstrate that technology should empower ordinary people rather than control them.
Founded in 2010, PlebWare began as an independent online initiative dedicated to practical computing, repair culture, Linux, and digital freedom.
🏛️ Early Endeavours and Our Legacy
Every long journey begins with a single step.
Although PlebWare has evolved into a publishing and education platform dedicated to Linux, artificial intelligence, writing, creativity, and lifelong learning, its origins were rooted in a much simpler mission: making useful technology more accessible to everyday people.
💿 The PlebPack Years
During the early years of PlebWare, curated software collections were produced and distributed for Microsoft Windows users through CNET Download.
These included:
- 📦 PlebWare Office Pack
- 📦 PlebWare Office Pack Lite
We created these collections to make it easier to find trustworthy, free productivity software by packaging carefully selected applications into a single download.
At the time, this reflected the same philosophy that continues to guide PlebWare today:
Technology should empower people—not overwhelm them.
📜 Preserving Our History
The software contained within these early releases has long since become obsolete. Many of the original applications have been discontinued, replaced, or significantly updated over the years.
Unfortunately, the original publisher account on CNET can no longer be accessed because it was linked to an email address associated with a domain registration that has since been lost. As a result, these historic releases cannot be updated or maintained.
Rather than attempting to erase this chapter of our history, PlebWare chooses to preserve it as an important milestone in the project’s development.
These packages remain part of our story—not as current software, but as historical artefacts representing the first public expression of the PlebWare vision.
🚀 A Vision That Never Changed
While the technology has changed dramatically over the years, the purpose has remained remarkably consistent.
From distributing curated software collections…
…to publishing educational resources…
…to teaching Linux…
…to exploring artificial intelligence…
…to encouraging creativity and lifelong learning…
PlebWare has always sought to make technology more approachable, practical, and beneficial for ordinary people.
The tools have changed.
The mission has not.
“We build not merely to distribute software, but to share knowledge, inspire creativity, and empower people through technology.”
On 2015-06-06, the public GitHub Pages presence was established.
Beginning on 2026-05-25, the project underwent a complete redevelopment. Its purpose expanded beyond software into a comprehensive publishing and education platform. That transformation was completed on 2026-06-30, marking the beginning of continuous publication.
🔑 Historical Timeline
| 📅 Date | 🏛️ Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2006–2008 | The PlebWare identity emerged after the original Biologicalware/Bioware concept was abandoned due to an existing commercial trademark. The name PlebWare was chosen to reflect software and technology created for ordinary people. |
| 2010-01-18 | PlebWare was officially founded with the registration of plebware.com, hosted by GreenGeeks. This marked the beginning of the original PlebWare project. |
| 2010–2012 | The first public software collections, PlebWare Office Pack and PlebWare Office Pack Lite, were released through CNET Download, providing curated free productivity software for Windows users. These releases marked PlebWare’s first publicly distributed software products. |
| 2015-06-06 | plebware.github.io was established, laying the foundations for what would eventually become the modern PlebWare website. |
| 2020 | plebware.com was retired following the COVID era. The original CNET publisher account also became inaccessible after the associated domain and email account were lost, leaving the Office Pack releases as historical archives. |
| 2026-05-25 | A complete redevelopment of PlebWare commenced, transforming the project from a software-focused initiative into a publishing and education platform centred on Linux, artificial intelligence, writing, creativity, and lifelong learning. |
| 2026-06-30 | PlebWare Publishing & Education Platform Version 1.0 was completed and officially launched on GitHub Pages, representing the culmination of over sixteen years of continuous evolution. |
The history of PlebWare spans more than sixteen years. Although the technologies and platforms have evolved, the project’s mission has remained constant: to make technology more accessible, understandable, and useful for ordinary people.
🔑 Why PlebWare Exists
The modern technology industry often promotes replacement over repair, complexity over clarity, and dependence over understanding.
PlebWare rejects that philosophy.
We believe ordinary people deserve technology that is:
- Accessible
- Repairable
- Understandable
- Affordable
- Under the user’s control
🔑 Our Mission
To publish, teach, document, preserve knowledge, and develop practical technology that places people before products.
🔑 Core Values
- Truthfulness
- Transparency
- Attribution
- Responsible Innovation
- Respect for Human Authorship
- Resistance to misinformation and deceptive synthetic media
🔑 Our Flagship Project
PlebMachine
PlebMachine is a modular Linux desktop orchestration environment built around state-driven engineering, recoverability, flexibility, and long-term maintainability.
Its guiding philosophy is simple:
Build systems for ordinary people using ordinary hardware.
🔑 The Transformation
PlebWare is no longer simply a Linux project.
It is now:
- A publishing platform
- An educational resource
- A Linux knowledge base
- An Artificial Intelligence learning centre
- A digital library
- A home for independent authors and creators
🔑 Founders
- Otto Wilhelm Friedrich Brinkmeier — Founder, Architect and Chief Developer
- Julian Boyd de Villiers — Assistant Developer and Audio Designer
- Martin de Walt — Early collaborator
🔑 Publishing Covenant
Every publication shall strive to:
- Teach before selling.
- Explain before assuming.
- Repair before replacing.
- Credit before claiming.
- Seek truth before popularity.
🔑 Our Commitment
We commit ourselves to creating systems and publications that:
- Respect users.
- Encourage learning.
- Promote repair.
- Preserve digital freedom.
- Continue evolving through practical experience.
🔑 Call to Action
If you believe technology should be understandable, repairable, and accessible, then you already share the spirit of PlebWare.
Learn. Build. Share. Teach.
🔑 Closing Declaration
Technology should remain connected to humanity.
The work of PlebWare will never truly be finished. Every article, tutorial, project, and lesson contributes to a growing body of knowledge dedicated to helping ordinary people understand extraordinary technology.
PlebWare
Accessible. Repairable. Understandable Technology.
Founded: 2010
GitHub Presence: 2015-06-06
Publishing & Education Platform: 2026-05-25 → 2026-06-30
Founder: Otto Wilhelm Friedrich Brinkmeier