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-<!-- This is the second edition of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman.
-
-Free Software Foundation
-
-51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor
-
-Boston, MA 02110-1335
-Copyright C 2002, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire book are permitted
-worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice is
-preserved. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations
-of this book from the original English into another language provided
-the translation has been approved by the Free Software Foundation and
-the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all
-copies.
-
-ISBN 978-0-9831592-0-9
-Cover design by Rob Myers.
-
-Cover photograph by Peter Hinely.
- -->
-
-
- <a name="The-GNU-Manifesto">
- </a>
- <h1 class="chapter">
- 4. The GNU Manifesto
- </h1>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-_0060_0060GNU-Manifesto_0027_0027">
- </a>
- <a name="index-_0060_0060GNU-Manifesto_0027_0027">
- </a>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-Project-2">
- </a>
- <blockquote class="smallquotation">
- <p>
- The GNU Manifesto was written by Richard Stallman at the beginning of
-the GNU Project, to ask for participation and support. For the first
-few years, it was updated in minor ways to account for developments,
-but now it seems best to leave it unchanged as most people have seen
-it.
- <br/>
- </p>
- <p>
- Since that time, we have learned about certain common misunderstandings
-that different wording could help avoid. Footnotes added since 1993 help
-clarify these points.
- <br/>
- </p>
- <p>
- For up-to-date information about the available GNU software, please
-see the information available on our web server, in particular our
-list of software. For how to contribute, see
- <a href="http://gnu.org/help">
- http://gnu.org/help
- </a>
- .
- </p>
- </blockquote>
- <a name="What_0027s-GNU_003f-Gnu_0027s-Not-Unix_0021">
- </a>
- <h3 class="subheading">
- What’s GNU? Gnu’s Not Unix!
- </h3>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-software-_0028see-also-software_0029-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-Unix-compatibility_002c-announcement-of-1">
- </a>
- <p>
- GNU, which stands for Gnu’s Not Unix, is the name for the complete
-Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give
-it away free to everyone who can use it.
- <a href="#FOOT12" name="DOCF12">
- (12)
- </a>
- Several other volunteers are helping me. Contributions
-of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly needed.
- </p>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-operating-system-parts-4">
- </a>
- <p>
- So far we have an
- <a name="index-Emacs_002c-GNU-4">
- </a>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-Emacs-4">
- </a>
- Emacs text editor with Lisp for writing editor
-commands, a source level debugger, a
- <a name="index-yacc-1">
- </a>
- yacc-compatible parser generator,
-a linker, and around 35 utilities. A shell (command interpreter) is
-nearly completed. A new portable optimizing C compiler has compiled
-itself and may be released this year. An initial kernel exists but
-many more features are needed to emulate Unix. When the kernel and
-compiler are finished, it will be possible to distribute a GNU system
-suitable for program development. We will use
- <a name="index-TeX-1">
- </a>
- TeX as our text
-formatter, but an
- <a name="index-nroff">
- </a>
- nroff is being worked on. We will use the free,
-portable X window system as well. After this we will add a portable
- <a name="index-Common-Lisp">
- </a>
- <a name="index-Lisp_002c-Common">
- </a>
- <a name="index-Empire-game-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-games_002c-Empire-1">
- </a>
- Common Lisp, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of other
-things, plus online documentation. We hope to supply, eventually,
-everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and more.
- </p>
- <p>
- GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to
-Unix. We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our
-experience with other operating systems. In particular, we plan to
-have longer file names, file version numbers, a crashproof file system,
-file name completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and
-perhaps eventually a Lisp-based window system through which several
-Lisp programs and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen. Both C
-and Lisp will be available as system programming languages. We will
-try to support
- <a name="index-UUCP-1">
- </a>
- UUCP,
- <a name="index-MIT_002c-Chaosnet-2">
- </a>
- MIT Chaosnet, and Internet protocols for
-communication.
- </p>
- <p>
- GNU is aimed initially at machines in the
- <a name="index-68000_002dclass-hardware-2">
- </a>
- 68000/16000 class with
-virtual memory, because they are the easiest machines to make it run
-on. The extra effort to make it run on smaller machines will be left
-to someone who wants to use it on them.
- </p>
- <p>
- To avoid horrible confusion, please pronounce the
- <em>
- g
- </em>
- in the word “GNU” when it is the name of this project.
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-software-_0028see-also-software_0029-2">
- </a>
- </p>
- <a name="Why-I-Must-Write-GNU">
- </a>
- <h3 class="subheading">
- Why I Must Write GNU
- </h3>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-motivation-to-write">
- </a>
- <p>
- I consider that the
- <a name="index-Golden-Rule-1">
- </a>
- Golden Rule requires that if I like a program I
-must share it with other people who like it. Software sellers want to
-divide the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share
-with others. I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this
-way. I cannot in good conscience sign a
- <a name="index-nondisclosure-agreements-4">
- </a>
- nondisclosure agreement or a
-software license agreement. For years I worked within the
- <a name="index-AI-_0028Artificial-Intelligence_0029-Lab_002c-MIT-_0028see-also-MIT_0029-1">
- </a>
- Artificial
-Intelligence Lab to resist such tendencies and other inhospitalities,
-but eventually they had gone too far: I could not remain in an
-institution where such things are done for me against my will.
- </p>
- <p>
- So that I can continue to use computers without dishonor, I have
-decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that I
-will be able to get along without any software that is not free. I
-have resigned from the
- <a name="index-MIT_002c-AI-_0028Artificial-Intelligence_0029-Lab-3">
- </a>
- AI Lab to deny MIT any legal excuse to prevent
-me from giving GNU away.
- <a href="#FOOT13" name="DOCF13">
- (13)
- </a>
- ) for more
-explanation.
- </p>
- <a name="Why-GNU-Will-Be-Compatible-with-Unix">
- </a>
- <h3 class="subheading">
- Why GNU Will Be Compatible with Unix
- </h3>
- <a name="index-Unix-compatibility_002c-reason-for-1">
- </a>
- <p>
- Unix is not my ideal system, but it is not too bad. The essential
-features of Unix seem to be good ones, and I think I can fill in what
-Unix lacks without spoiling them. And a system compatible with Unix
-would be convenient for many other people to adopt.
- </p>
- <a name="How-GNU-Will-Be-Available">
- </a>
- <h3 class="subheading">
- How GNU Will Be Available
- </h3>
- <a name="index-public-domain-software-_0028see-also-software_0029-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-programs-_0028see-also-software_0029">
- </a>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-software-_0028see-also-software_0029-3">
- </a>
- <p>
- GNU is not in the public domain. Everyone will be permitted to
-modify and redistribute GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to
-restrict its further redistribution. That is to say,
-proprietary modifications will not be allowed. I want to make sure that all
-versions of GNU remain free.
- </p>
- <a name="Why-Many-Other-Programmers-Want-to-Help">
- </a>
- <h3 class="subheading">
- Why Many Other Programmers Want to Help
- </h3>
- <a name="index-programmers_002c-incentive-for">
- </a>
- <a name="index-programmers_002c-psychosocial-harm-to">
- </a>
- <p>
- I have found many other programmers who are excited about GNU and
-want to help.
- Many programmers are unhappy about the commercialization of system
-software. It may enable them to make more money, but it requires them
-to feel in conflict with other programmers in general rather than feel
-as comrades. The fundamental act of friendship among programmers is the
-sharing of programs; marketing arrangements now typically used
-essentially forbid programmers to treat others as friends. The
-purchaser of software must choose between friendship and obeying the
-law. Naturally, many decide that friendship is more important. But
-those who believe in law often do not feel at ease with either choice.
-They become cynical and think that programming is just a way of making
-money.
- </p>
- <p>
- By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can
-be hospitable to everyone and obey the law. In addition, GNU serves as
-an example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in
-sharing. This can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if
-we use software that is not free. For about half the programmers I
-talk to, this is an important happiness that money cannot replace.
- </p>
- <a name="How-You-Can-Contribute">
- </a>
- <h3 class="subheading">
- How You Can Contribute
- </h3>
- <a name="index-call-to-action_002c-contribute-to-GNU-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-call-to-action_002c-donate">
- </a>
- <p>
- I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and
-money. I’m asking individuals for donations of programs and
-work.
- <a href="#FOOT14" name="DOCF14">
- (14)
- </a>
- </p>
- <p>
- One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU
-will run on them at an early date. The machines should be complete,
-ready to use systems, approved for use in a residential area, and not
-in need of sophisticated cooling or power.
- </p>
- <p>
- I have found very many programmers eager to contribute part-time
-work for GNU.
- <a name="index-Unix-compatibility_002c-ease-of-contribution-because-of-1">
- </a>
- For most projects, such part-time distributed work would
-be very hard to coordinate; the independently written parts would not
-work together. But for the particular task of replacing Unix, this
-problem is absent. A complete Unix system contains hundreds of utility
-programs, each of which is documented separately. Most interface
-specifications are fixed by Unix compatibility. If each contributor
-can write a compatible replacement for a single Unix utility, and make
-it work properly in place of the original on a Unix system, then these
-utilities will work right when put together. Even allowing for Murphy
-to create a few unexpected problems, assembling these components will
-be a feasible task. (The kernel will require closer communication and
-will be worked on by a small, tight group.)
- </p>
- <p>
- If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full
-or part time. The salary won’t be high by programmers’ standards, but
-I’m looking for people for whom building community spirit is as
-important as making money. I view this as a way of enabling dedicated
-people to devote their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them
-the need to make a living in another way.
- <a name="index-call-to-action_002c-donate-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-call-to-action_002c-contribute-to-GNU-2">
- </a>
- </p>
- <a name="Why-All-Computer-Users-Will-Benefit">
- </a>
- <h3 class="subheading">
- Why All Computer Users Will Benefit
- </h3>
- <a name="index-users_002c-benefit-to">
- </a>
- <p>
- Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system
-software free, just like air.
- <a href="#FOOT15" name="DOCF15">
- (15)
- </a>
- </p>
- <p>
- This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix
-license. It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming
-effort will be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the
-state of the art.
- </p>
- <p>
- Complete system sources will be available to everyone. As a result,
-a user who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them
-himself, or hire any available programmer or company to make them for
-him. Users will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company
-which owns the sources and is in sole position to make changes.
- </p>
- <a name="index-education_002c-free-software-in">
- </a>
- <a name="index-schools_002c-free-software-in">
- </a>
- <p>
- Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment
-by encouraging all students to study and improve the system code.
-Harvard’s computer lab used to have the policy that no program could be
-installed on the system if its sources were not on public display, and
-upheld it by actually refusing to install certain programs. I was very
-much inspired by this.
- </p>
- <p>
- Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software
-and what one is or is not entitled to do with it will be lifted.
- </p>
- <p>
- Arrangements to make people pay for using a program, including
-licensing of copies, always incur a tremendous cost to society through
-the cumbersome mechanisms necessary to figure out how much (that is,
-which programs) a person must pay for. And only a police state can
-force everyone to obey them. Consider a space station where air must
-be manufactured at great cost: charging each breather per liter of air
-may be fair, but wearing the metered gas mask all day and all night is
-intolerable even if everyone can afford to pay the air bill. And the
-TV cameras everywhere to see if you ever take the mask off are
-outrageous. It’s better to support the air plant with a head tax and
-chuck the masks.
- </p>
- <p>
- Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as
-breathing, and as productive. It ought to be as free.
- </p>
- <a name="Some-Easily-Rebutted-Objections-to-GNU_0027s-Goals">
- </a>
- <h3 class="subheading">
- Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU’s Goals
- </h3>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-objections-to">
- </a>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-user-support">
- </a>
- <a name="index-users_002c-technical-support-for-GNU">
- </a>
- <p>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “Nobody will use it if it is free, because that means they can’t rely on any support.”
- </strong>
- </p>
- <p>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “You have to charge for the program to pay for providing the support.”
- </strong>
- </p>
- <p>
- If people would rather pay for GNU plus service than get GNU free
-without service, a company to provide just service to people who have
-obtained GNU free ought to be profitable.
- <a href="#FOOT16" name="DOCF16">
- (16)
- </a>
- </p>
- <p>
- We must distinguish between support in the form of real programming
-work and mere handholding. The former is something one cannot rely on
-from a software vendor. If your problem is not shared by enough
-people, the vendor will tell you to get lost.
- </p>
- <p>
- If your business needs to be able to rely on support, the only way
-is to have all the necessary sources and tools. Then you can hire any
-available person to fix your problem; you are not at the mercy of any
-individual. With Unix, the price of sources puts this out of
-consideration for most businesses. With GNU this will be easy. It is
-still possible for there to be no available competent person, but this
-problem cannot be blamed on distribution arrangements. GNU does not
-eliminate all the world’s problems, only some of them.
- </p>
- <p>
- Meanwhile, the users who know nothing about computers need
-handholding: doing things for them which they could easily do
-themselves but don’t know how.
- </p>
- <p>
- Such services could be provided by companies that sell just
-handholding and repair service. If it is true that users would rather
-spend money and get a product with service, they will also be willing
-to buy the service having got the product free. The service companies
-will compete in quality and price; users will not be tied to any
-particular one. Meanwhile, those of us who don’t need the service
-should be able to use the program without paying for the service.
- <br>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-advertising-for">
- </a>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “You cannot reach many people without advertising, and
-you must charge for the program to support that.”
- </strong>
- <br>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “It’s no use advertising a program people can get
-free.”
- </strong>
- </br>
- </br>
- </p>
- <p>
- There are various forms of free or very cheap publicity that can be
-used to inform numbers of computer users about something like GNU. But
-it may be true that one can reach more microcomputer users with
-advertising. If this is really so, a business which advertises the
-service of copying and mailing GNU for a fee ought to be successful
-enough to pay for its advertising and more. This way, only the users
-who benefit from the advertising pay for it.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the other hand, if many people get GNU from their friends, and
-such companies don’t succeed, this will show that advertising was not
-really necessary to spread GNU. Why is it that free market advocates
-don’t want to let the free market decide this?
- <a href="#FOOT17" name="DOCF17">
- (17)
- </a>
- <br>
- <a name="index-competition_002c-impact-on">
- </a>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “My company needs a proprietary operating system to get
-a competitive edge.”
- </strong>
- </br>
- </p>
- <p>
- GNU will remove operating system software from the realm of
-competition. You will not be able to get an edge in this area, but
-neither will your competitors be able to get an edge over you. You and
-they will compete in other areas, while benefiting mutually in this
-one. If your business is selling an operating system, you will not
-like GNU, but that’s tough on you. If your business is something else,
-GNU can save you from being pushed into the expensive business of
-selling operating systems.
- </p>
- <p>
- I would like to see GNU development supported by gifts from many
-manufacturers and users, reducing the cost to each.
- <a href="#FOOT18" name="DOCF18">
- (18)
- </a>
- <br>
- <a name="index-programmers_002c-income-for-2">
- </a>
- <a name="index-programmers_002c-and-creativity-and-entitlement">
- </a>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “Don’t programmers deserve a reward for their
-creativity?”
- </strong>
- </br>
- </p>
- <p>
- If anything deserves a reward, it is social contribution.
-Creativity can be a social contribution, but only in so far as society
-is free to use the results. If programmers deserve to be rewarded for
-creating innovative programs, by the same token they deserve to be
-punished if they restrict the use of these programs.
- <br>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “Shouldn’t a programmer be able to ask for a reward for
-his creativity?”
- </strong>
- </br>
- </p>
- <a name="index-programmers_002c-income-for-3">
- </a>
- <p>
- There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to
-maximize one’s income, as long as one does not use means that are
-destructive. But the means customary in the field of software today
-are based on destruction.
- </p>
- <p>
- Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of
-it is destructive because the restrictions reduce the amount and the
-ways that the program can be used. This reduces the amount of wealth
-that humanity derives from the program. When there is a deliberate
-choice to restrict, the harmful consequences are deliberate destruction.
- </p>
- <a name="index-citizen-values_002c-Golden-Rule-1">
- </a>
- <p>
- The reason a good citizen does not use such destructive means to
-become wealthier is that, if everyone did so, we would all become
-poorer from the mutual destructiveness. This is
- <a name="index-Kantian-ethics">
- </a>
- Kantian ethics; or,
- <a name="index-Golden-Rule-2">
- </a>
- the Golden Rule. Since I do not like the consequences that result if
-everyone hoards information, I am required to consider it wrong for one
-to do so. Specifically, the desire to be rewarded for one’s creativity
-does not justify depriving the world in general of all or part of that
-creativity.
- <br>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “Won’t programmers starve?”
- </strong>
- </br>
- </p>
- <p>
- I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer. Most of us
-cannot manage to get any money for standing on the street and making
-faces. But we are not, as a result, condemned to spend our lives
-standing on the street making faces, and starving. We do something
-else.
- </p>
- <p>
- But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner’s
-implicit assumption: that without ownership of software, programmers
-cannot possibly be paid a cent. Supposedly it is all or nothing.
- </p>
- <p>
- The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be
-possible for them to get paid for programming; just not paid as much as
-now.
- </p>
- <p>
- Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software.
-It is the most common basis
- <a href="#FOOT19" name="DOCF19">
- (19)
- </a>
- because it
-brings in the most money. If it were prohibited, or rejected by the
-customer, software business would move to other bases of organization
-which are now used less often. There are always numerous ways to
-organize any kind of business.
- </p>
- <p>
- Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it
-is now. But that is not an argument against the change. It is not
-considered an injustice that sales clerks make the salaries that they
-now do. If programmers made the same, that would not be an injustice
-either. (In practice they would still make considerably more than
-that.)
- <a name="index-programmers_002c-income-for-4">
- </a>
- <br/>
- </p>
- <p>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “Don’t people have a right to control how their creativity is used?”
- </strong>
- </p>
- <a name="index-patents-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-_0060_0060intellectual-property_002c_0027_0027-bias-and-fallacy-of-term-_0028see-also-ownership_0029">
- </a>
- <p>
- “Control over the use of one’s ideas” really constitutes
-control over other people’s lives; and it is usually used to make
-their lives more difficult.
- </p>
- <p>
- People who have studied the issue of intellectual property
-rights
- <a href="#FOOT20" name="DOCF20">
- (20)
- </a>
- ) for further explanation of how this
-term spreads confusion and bias.
- carefully (such as lawyers) say that
-there is no intrinsic right to intellectual property. The kinds of
-supposed intellectual property rights that the government recognizes
-were created by specific acts of legislation for specific purposes.
- </p>
- <p>
- For example, the patent system was established to encourage
-inventors to disclose the details of their inventions. Its purpose was
-to help society rather than to help inventors. At the time, the life
-span of 17 years for a patent was short compared with the rate of
-advance of the state of the art. Since patents are an issue only among
-manufacturers, for whom the cost and effort of a license agreement are
-small compared with setting up production, the patents often do not do
-much harm. They do not obstruct most individuals who use patented
-products.
- </p>
- <p>
- The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors
-frequently copied other authors at length in works of nonfiction. This
-practice was useful, and is the only way many authors’ works have
-survived even in part. The copyright system was created expressly for
-the purpose of encouraging authorship. In the domain for which it was
-invented—books, which could be copied economically only on a printing
-press—it did little harm, and did not obstruct most of the individuals
-who read the books.
- </p>
- <p>
- All intellectual property rights are just licenses granted by society
-because it was thought, rightly or wrongly, that society as a whole
-would benefit by granting them. But in any particular situation, we
-have to ask: are we really better off granting such license? What kind
-of act are we licensing a person to do?
- <a name="index-_0060_0060intellectual-property_002c_0027_0027-bias-and-fallacy-of-term-_0028see-also-ownership_0029-1">
- </a>
- </p>
- <p>
- The case of programs today is very different from that of books a
-hundred years ago. The fact that the easiest way to copy a program is
-from one neighbor to another, the fact that a program has both source
-code and object code which are distinct, and the fact that a program is
-used rather than read and enjoyed, combine to create a situation in
-which a person who enforces a copyright is harming society as a whole
-both materially and spiritually; in which a person should not do so
-regardless of whether the law enables him to.
- <a name="index-programmers_002c-and-creativity-and-entitlement-1">
- </a>
- <br>
- <a name="index-competition_002c-impact-on-1">
- </a>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “Competition makes things get done
-better.”
- </strong>
- </br>
- </p>
- <p>
- The paradigm of competition is a race: by rewarding the winner, we
-encourage everyone to run faster. When capitalism really works this
-way, it does a good job; but its defenders are wrong in assuming it
-always works this way. If the runners forget why the reward is offered
-and become intent on winning, no matter how, they may find other
-strategies—such as, attacking other runners. If the runners get into
-a fist fight, they will all finish late.
- </p>
- <p>
- Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners
-in a fist fight. Sad to say, the only referee we’ve got does not seem
-to object to fights; he just regulates them (“For every ten
-yards you run, you can fire one shot”). He really ought to
-break them up, and penalize runners for even trying to fight.
- <br>
- <a name="index-programmers_002c-incentive-for-1">
- </a>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “Won’t everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?”
- </strong>
- </br>
- </p>
- <p>
- Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary
-incentive. Programming has an irresistible fascination for some
-people, usually the people who are best at it. There is no shortage of
-professional musicians who keep at it even though they have no hope of
-making a living that way.
- </p>
- <p>
- But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate
-to the situation. Pay for programmers will not disappear, only become
-less. So the right question is, will anyone program with a reduced
-monetary incentive? My experience shows that they will.
- </p>
- <a name="index-AI-_0028Artificial-Intelligence_0029-Lab_002c-MIT-_0028see-also-MIT_0029-2">
- </a>
- <p>
- For more than ten years, many of the world’s best programmers worked
-at the Artificial Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could
-have had anywhere else. They got many kinds of nonmonetary rewards:
-fame and appreciation, for example. And creativity is also fun, a
-reward in itself.
- </p>
- <p>
- Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same
-interesting work for a lot of money.
- </p>
- <p>
- What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other
-than riches; but if given a chance to make a lot of money as well, they
-will come to expect and demand it. Low-paying organizations do poorly
-in competition with high-paying ones, but they do not have to do badly
-if the high-paying ones are banned.
- <a name="index-programmers_002c-incentive-for-2">
- </a>
- <br>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “We need the programmers desperately. If they demand that we stop helping our neighbors, we have to obey.”
- </strong>
- </br>
- </p>
- <p>
- You’re never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand.
-Remember: millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute!
- <br/>
- </p>
- <a name="index-programmers_002c-income-for-5">
- </a>
- <a name="index-development_002c-funding-for-2">
- </a>
- <p>
- &amp;bullet;
- <strong>
- “Programmers need to make a living somehow.”
- </strong>
- </p>
- <p>
- In the short run, this is true. However, there are plenty of ways
-that programmers could make a living without selling the right to use a
-program. This way is customary now because it brings programmers and
-businessmen the most money, not because it is the only way to make a
-living. It is easy to find other ways if you want to find them. Here
-are a number of examples.
- </p>
- <p>
- A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of
-operating systems onto the new hardware.
- </p>
- <p>
- The sale of teaching, handholding and maintenance services could
-also employ programmers.
- </p>
- <a name="index-freeware-_0028see-also-software_0029">
- </a>
- <p>
- People with new ideas could distribute programs as
-freeware,
- <a href="#FOOT21" name="DOCF21">
- (21)
- </a>
- ) for more explanation.
- asking for donations from satisfied
-users, or selling handholding services. I have met people who are
-already working this way successfully.
- </p>
- <p>
- Users with related needs can form users’ groups, and pay dues. A
-group would contract with programming companies to write programs that
-the group’s members would like to use.
- </p>
- <a name="index-software_002c-software-tax">
- </a>
- <p>
- All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax:
- </p>
- <p>
- Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay
- <em>
- x
- </em>
- percent of the
- price as a software tax. The government gives this to an agency
- like the
- <a name="index-National-Science-Foundation-_0028NSF_0029">
- </a>
- NSF to spend on software development.
- </p>
- <p>
- But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development
- himself, he can take a credit against the tax. He can donate to
- the project of his own choosing—often, chosen because he hopes to
- use the results when it is done. He can take a credit for any
- amount of donation up to the total tax he had to pay.
- </p>
- <p>
- The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of the
- tax, weighted according to the amount they will be taxed on.
- </p>
- <p>
- The consequences:
- </p>
- <ul>
- <li>
- The computer-using community supports software development.
- </li>
- <li>
- This community decides what level of support is needed.
- </li>
- <li>
- Users who care which projects their share is spent on can choose this for themselves.
- </li>
- </ul>
- <p>
- In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the
-postscarcity world, where nobody will have to work very hard just to
-make a living. People will be free to devote themselves to activities
-that are fun, such as programming, after spending the necessary ten
-hours a week on required tasks such as legislation, family counseling,
-robot repair and asteroid prospecting. There will be no need to be
-able to make a living from programming.
- </p>
- <a name="index-users_002c-benefit-to-1">
- </a>
- <p>
- We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole
-society must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this
-has translated itself into leisure for workers because much
-nonproductive activity is required to accompany productive activity.
-The main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against
-competition. Free software will greatly reduce these drains in the
-area of software production. We must do this, in order for technical
-gains in productivity to translate into less work for us.
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-objections-to-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-programmers_002c-income-for-6">
- </a>
- <a name="index-development_002c-funding-for-3">
- </a>
- <a name="index-_0060_0060GNU-Manifesto_0027_0027-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-_0060_0060GNU-Manifesto_0027_0027-1">
- </a>
- </p>
- <div class="footnote">
- <hr>
- <h3>
- Footnotes
- </h3>
- <h3>
- <a href="#DOCF12" name="FOOT12">
- (12)
- </a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- The wording here was
-careless. The intention was that nobody would have to pay for
- <em>
- permission
- </em>
- to use the GNU system. But the words don’t make this
-clear, and people often interpret them as saying that copies of GNU
-should always be distributed at little or no charge. That was never
-the intent; later on, the manifesto mentions the possibility of
-companies providing the service of distribution for a
-profit. Subsequently I have learned to distinguish carefully between
-“free” in the sense of freedom and “free” in the sense of
-price. Free software is software that users have the freedom to
-distribute and change. Some users may obtain copies at no charge,
-while others pay to obtain copies—and if the funds help support
-improving the software, so much the better. The important thing is
-that everyone who has a copy has the freedom to cooperate with others
-in using it.
- </p>
- <h3>
- <a href="#DOCF13" name="FOOT13">
- (13)
- </a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- The expression
- <a name="index-_0060_0060give-away-software_002c_0027_0027-misleading-use-of-term">
- </a>
- “give away” is another indication that I had not yet clearly
-separated the issue of price from that of freedom. We now recommend
-avoiding this expression when talking about free software. See “Words
-to Avoid (or Use with Care)”
- </p>
- <h3>
- <a href="#DOCF14" name="FOOT14">
- (14)
- </a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- Nowadays, for software tasks to work on, see the
- <a name="index-High-Priority-Projects-list">
- </a>
- High Priority Projects list, at
- <a href="http://fsf.org/campaigns/priority-projects/">
- http://fsf.org/campaigns/priority-projects/
- </a>
- , and the
- <a name="index-GNU-Help-Wanted-list">
- </a>
- GNU
-Help Wanted list, the general task list for GNU software packages, at
- <a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/people/?type_id=1">
- http://savannah.gnu.org/people/?type_id=1
- </a>
- . For other ways to
-help, see
- <a href="http://gnu.org/help/help.html">
- http://gnu.org/help/help.html
- </a>
- .
- </p>
- <h3>
- <a href="#DOCF15" name="FOOT15">
- (15)
- </a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- This is another place I failed
-to distinguish carefully between the two different meanings of
-“free.” The statement as it stands is not false—you can get copies
-of GNU software at no charge, from your friends or over the net. But
-it does suggest the wrong idea.
- </p>
- <h3>
- <a href="#DOCF16" name="FOOT16">
- (16)
- </a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- Several such companies now exist.
- </p>
- <h3>
- <a href="#DOCF17" name="FOOT17">
- (17)
- </a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- Although it is
-a charity rather than a company, the
- <a name="index-FSF_002c-fundraising-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-FSF_002c-how-you-can-help">
- </a>
- Free Software Foundation for 10
-years raised most of its funds from its distribution service. You can
-order things from the FSF to support its work.
- </p>
- <h3>
- <a href="#DOCF18" name="FOOT18">
- (18)
- </a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- A group
-of computer companies pooled funds around 1991 to support maintenance
-of the
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-C-compiler-_0028see-also-GNU_002c-GCC_0029-1">
- </a>
- GNU C Compiler.
- </p>
- <h3>
- <a href="#DOCF19" name="FOOT19">
- (19)
- </a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- I think I was mistaken in saying
-that proprietary software was the most common basis for making money
-in software. It seems that actually the most common business model was
-and is development of custom software. That does not offer the
-possibility of collecting rents, so the business has to keep doing
-real work in order to keep getting income. The custom software
-business would continue to exist, more or less unchanged, in a free
-software world. Therefore, I no longer expect that most paid
-programmers would earn less in a free software world.
- </p>
- <h3>
- <a href="#DOCF20" name="FOOT20">
- (20)
- </a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- In the 1980s I had not yet realized how confusing it
-was to speak of “the issue” of “intellectual property.” That term
-is obviously biased; more subtle is the fact that it lumps together
-various disparate laws which raise very different issues. Nowadays I
-urge people to reject the term “intellectual property” entirely,
-lest it lead others to suppose that those laws form one coherent
-issue. The way to be clear is to discuss patents, copyrights, and
- <a name="index-trademarks-and_002for-trademark-law">
- </a>
- trademarks separately. See “Did You Say ‘Intellectual Property’? It’s
-a Seductive Mirage”.
- </p>
- <h3>
- <a href="#DOCF21" name="FOOT21">
- (21)
- </a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- Subsequently we learned to distinguish between
-“free software” and “freeware.” The term “freeware” means
-software you are free to redistribute, but usually you are not free to
-study and change the source code, so most of it is not free
-software. See “Words to Avoid (or Use with Care)”.
- </p>
- </hr>
- </div>
- <hr size="2"/>
-