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+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<!-- Parent-Version: 1.79 -->
+<title>Why Programs Should be Shared
+- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
+ <!--#include virtual="/gnu/po/why-programs-should-be-shared.translist" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+<h2>Why Programs Should be Shared</h2>
+
+<p><strong>by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</a></strong></p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>Richard Stallman wrote this text, which was found in a file dated May
+ 1983, though it is not clear whether it was written then or earlier.
+ In May 1983 he was privately considering plans to develop a
+ free operating system, but he may not yet have decided to make it a
+ Unix-like system rather than something like the MIT Lisp Machine.</p>
+
+ <p>He had not yet conceptually distinguished the two meanings of
+ &ldquo;free;&rdquo; this message is formulated in terms of gratis
+ copies, but take for granted that this means users also have freedom.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+<p>Five years ago one could take for granted that any useful program
+written at SAIL, MIT, CMU, etc. would be shared. Since then, these
+universities have started acting just like software houses&mdash;everything
+useful will be sold for an arm and a leg (usually after being written
+at gov't expense).</p>
+
+<p>People find all sorts of excuses why it's harmful to give away
+software. These supposed problems never bothered us back when we
+<em>wanted</em> to share, and haven't affected EMACS, so I suspect they are
+bogus.</p>
+
+<p>For example, people say that companies will &ldquo;steal&rdquo; it
+and sell it. If so, that would be no worse than Stanford selling it!
+At least people would have the choice of getting a free copy. Users
+want to buy maintained software? Then let people sell service
+contracts&mdash;but give the software itself free.</p>
+
+<p>I think I can dispose of any reasons you may think exist
+for not sharing software. But more important is the reason
+why we <em>should</em> share:</p>
+
+<p>We would get more done with the same amount of work, if
+artificial obstacles were removed. And we would feel
+more in harmony with everyone else.</p>
+
+<p>Sharing software is the form that scientific cooperation
+takes in the field of computer science. Universities used
+to defend the principle of scientific cooperation.
+Is it right for them to throw it over for profit?</p>
+
+<p>Should we let them?</p>
+
+<p>Right now graduate students here are working on programming
+projects that are specifically intended for sale. But if
+we create a climate of opinion like that of five years ago,
+the university wouldn't dare to do this. And if you start
+sharing, other people might start sharing with you.</p>
+
+<p>So let's start sharing again.</p>
+
+</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 &amp; GNU inquiries to
+<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org">&lt;gnu@gnu.org&gt;</a>.
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
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+to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org">&lt;webmasters@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>
+
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+<p>Copyright &copy; 2015, 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
+
+<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
+href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative
+Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
+
+<p class="unprintable">Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2016/11/18 06:31:38 $
+<!-- timestamp end -->
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>