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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"/>
+