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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/university.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/university.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4303d88 --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/university.html @@ -0,0 +1,178 @@ +<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 --> +<title>Releasing Free Software If You Work at a University +- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/university.translist" --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> +<h2>Releasing Free Software If You Work at a University</h2> + +<p> +In the free software movement, we believe computer users should have +the freedom to change and redistribute the software that they use. +The “free” in “free software” +refers to freedom: it means +users have the freedom to run, modify and redistribute the software. +Free software contributes to human knowledge, while nonfree software +does not. Universities should therefore encourage free software for +the sake of advancing human knowledge, just as they should encourage +scientists and other scholars to publish their work.</p> + +<p> +Alas, many university administrators have a grasping attitude towards +software (and towards science); they see programs as opportunities for +income, not as opportunities to contribute to human knowledge. Free +software developers have been coping with this tendency for almost 20 +years.</p> + +<p> +When I started developing the <a href="/gnu/thegnuproject.html">GNU +operating system</a>, in 1984, my first step was to quit my job at MIT. +I did this specifically so that the MIT licensing office would be +unable to interfere with releasing GNU as free software. I had +planned an approach for licensing the programs in GNU that would ensure +that all modified versions must be free software as well—an approach +that developed into the <a href="/licenses/gpl.html">GNU General +Public License</a> (GNU GPL)—and I did not want to have to beg the +MIT administration to let me use it.</p> + +<p> +Over the years, university affiliates have often come to the Free +Software Foundation for advice on how to cope with administrators who +see software only as something to sell. One good method, applicable +even for specifically funded projects, is to base your work on an +existing program that was released under the GNU GPL. Then you can +tell the administrators, “We're not allowed to release the +modified version except under the GNU GPL—any other way would +be copyright infringement.” After the dollar signs fade from +their eyes, they will usually consent to releasing it as free +software.</p> + +<p> +You can also ask your funding sponsor for help. When a group at NYU +developed the GNU Ada Compiler, with funding from the US Air Force, +the contract explicitly called for donating the resulting code to the +Free Software Foundation. Work out the arrangement with the sponsor +first, then politely show the university administration that it is not +open to renegotiation. They would rather have a contract to develop +free software than no contract at all, so they will most likely go +along.</p> + +<p> +Whatever you do, raise the issue early—well before the +program is half finished. At this point, the university still needs +you, so you can play hardball: tell the administration you will finish +the program, make it usable, if they agree in writing to make it +free software (and agree to your choice of free software license). +Otherwise you will work on it only enough to write a paper about it, +and never make a version good enough to release. When the +administrators know their choice is to have a free software package +that brings credit to the university or nothing at all, they will +usually choose the former.</p> +<p> +The FSF can sometimes persuade your university to accept the GNU +General Public License, or to accept GPL version 3. If you can't do +it alone, please give us the chance to help. Send mail to +licensing@fsf.org, and put “urgent” in the Subject +field.</p> + +<p> +Not all universities have grasping policies. The University of Texas +has a policy that makes it easy to release software developed there as +free software under the GNU General Public License. Univates in +Brazil, and the International Institute of Information Technology in +Hyderabad, India, both have policies in favor of releasing software +under the GPL. By developing faculty support first, you may be able +to institute such a policy at your university. Present the issue as +one of principle: does the university have a mission to advance human +knowledge, or is its sole purpose to perpetuate itself?</p> + +<p> +In persuading the university, it helps to approach the issue with +determination and based on an ethical perspective, as we do in the +free software movement. To treat the public ethically, the software +should be free—as in freedom—for the whole public.</p> + +<p> +Many developers of free software profess narrowly practical reasons +for doing so: they advocate allowing others to share and change +software as an expedient for making software powerful and reliable. +If those values motivate you to develop free software, well and good, +and thank you for your contribution. But those values do not give you +a good footing to stand firm when university administrators pressure +or tempt you to make the program nonfree.</p> + +<p> +For instance, they may argue that “We could make it even more +powerful and reliable with all the money we can get.” This claim +may or may not come true in the end, but it is hard to disprove in +advance. They may suggest a license to offer copies “free of +charge, for academic use only,” which would tell the general +public they don't deserve freedom, and argue that this will obtain the +cooperation of academia, which is all (they say) you need.</p> + +<p> +If you start from values of convenience alone, it is hard to make a +good case for rejecting these dead-end proposals, but you can do it +easily if you base your stand on ethical and political values. What +good is it to make a program powerful and reliable at the expense of +users' freedom? Shouldn't freedom apply outside academia as well as +within it? The answers are obvious if freedom and community are among +your goals. Free software respects the users' freedom, while nonfree +software negates it.</p> + +<p> +Nothing strengthens your resolve like knowing that the community's +freedom depends, in one instance, on you.</p> + +<hr /> +<blockquote id="fsfs"><p class="big">This essay is published +in <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/product/free-software-free-society/"><cite>Free +Software, Free Society: The Selected Essays of Richard +M. Stallman</cite></a>.</p></blockquote> + +</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> +<div id="footer"> +<div class="unprintable"> + +<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a +href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a +href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and other +corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a +href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> + +<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, + replace it with the translation of these two: + + We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality + translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. + Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard + to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> + <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> + + <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of + our web pages, see <a + href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations + README</a>. --> +Please see the <a +href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a> for +information on coordinating and submitting translations of this article.</p> +</div> + +<p>Copyright © 2002 Richard Stallman</p> + +<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" +href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative +Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>.</p> + +<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> + +<p class="unprintable">Updated: +<!-- timestamp start --> +$Date: 2014/04/12 12:40:48 $ +<!-- timestamp end --> +</p> +</div> +</div> +</body> +</html> |