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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/free-sw.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/free-sw.html index 728eef1..fa1541f 100644 --- a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/free-sw.html +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/free-sw.html @@ -109,26 +109,50 @@ are free. However, if we plan to modify A so that it doesn't use B, only A needs to be free; B is not pertinent to that plan.</p> <p> -“Free software” does not mean “noncommercial”. A free -program must be available for commercial use, commercial development, -and commercial distribution. Commercial development of free software -is no longer unusual; such free commercial software is very important. -You may have paid money to get copies of free software, or you may have -obtained copies at no charge. But regardless of how you got your copies, -you always have the freedom to copy and change the software, even to -<a href="/philosophy/selling.html">sell copies</a>. +“Free software” does not mean “noncommercial”. +On the contrary, a free program must be available for commercial use, +commercial development, and commercial distribution. This policy is +of fundamental importance—without this, free software could not +achieve its aims. </p> <p> -A free program must offer the four freedoms to any user that obtains a -copy of the software, provided the user has complied thus far with the -conditions of the free license covering the software. Putting some of -the freedoms off limits to some users, or requiring that users pay, in -money or in kind, to exercise them, is tantamount to not granting the -freedoms in question, and thus renders the program nonfree. +We want to invite everyone to use the GNU system, including businesses +and their workers. That requires allowing commercial use. We hope +that free replacement programs will supplant comparable proprietary +programs, but they can't do that if businesses are forbidden to use +them. We want commercial products that contain software to include +the GNU system, and that would constitute commercial distribution for +a price. Commercial development of free software is no longer +unusual; such free commercial software is very important. Paid, +professional support for free software fills an important need. </p> -<h3>Clarifying the line at various points</h3> +<p> +Thus, to exclude commercial use, commercial development or commercial +distribution would hobble the free software community and obstruct its +path to success. We must conclude that a program licensed with such +restrictions does not qualify as free software. +</p> + +<p> +A free program must offer the four freedoms to any would-be user that +obtains a copy of the software, who has complied thus far with the +conditions of the free license covering the software in any previous +distribution of it. Putting some of the freedoms off limits to some +users, or requiring that users pay, in money or in kind, to exercise +them, is tantamount to not granting the freedoms in question, and thus +renders the program nonfree. +</p> + +<p> +You may have paid money to get copies of a free program, or you may +have obtained copies at no charge. But regardless of how you got your +copies, you always have the freedom to copy and change the software, +even to <a href="/philosophy/selling.html">sell copies</a>. +</p> + +<h3>Clarifying the boundary between free and nonfree</h3> <p>In the rest of this article we explain more precisely how far the various freedoms need to extend, on various issues, in order for a @@ -163,6 +187,10 @@ loss of usefulness, because freedoms 1 and 3 permit users and communities to make and distribute modified versions without the arbitrary nuisance code.</p> +<p>“As you wish” includes, optionally, “not at +all” if that is what you wish. So there is no need for a +separate “freedom not to run a program.”</p> + <h4>The freedom to study the source code and make changes</h4> <p> @@ -199,6 +227,12 @@ If your right to modify a program is limited, in substance, to changes that someone else considers an improvement, that program is not free. </p> +<p> +One special case of freedom 1 is to delete the program's code so it +returns after doing nothing, or make it invoke some other program. +Thus, freedom 1 includes the “freedom to delete the program.” +</p> + <h4>The freedom to redistribute if you wish: basic requirements</h4> <p>Freedom to distribute (freedoms 2 and 3) means you are free to @@ -460,6 +494,12 @@ was changed.</p> <ul> +<li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&r1=1.168&r2=1.169">Version +1.169</a>: Explain more clearly why the four freedoms must apply +to commercial activity. Explain why the four freedoms imply the +freedom not to run the program and the freedom to delete it, so there +is no need to state those as separate requirements.</li> + <li><a href="http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/philosophy/free-sw.html?root=www&r1=1.164&r2=1.165">Version 1.165</a>: Clarify that arbitrary annoyances in the code do not negate freedom 0, and that freedoms 1 and 3 enable users to remove them.</li> @@ -642,7 +682,7 @@ of this article.</p> There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> -<p>Copyright © 1996, 2002, 2004-2007, 2009-2019 +<p>Copyright © 1996, 2002, 2004-2007, 2009-2019, 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p> <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" @@ -653,7 +693,7 @@ Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> <p class="unprintable">Updated: <!-- timestamp start --> -$Date: 2019/07/30 10:09:02 $ +$Date: 2021/02/03 12:31:45 $ <!-- timestamp end --> </p> </div> |