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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_8.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_8.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75cbf5e --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_8.html @@ -0,0 +1,196 @@ +<!-- 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="Releasing-Free-Software-If-You-Work-at-a-University"> + </a> + <h1 class="chapter"> + 8. Releasing Free Software If You Work at a University + </h1> + <a name="index-universities_002c-releasing-free-software-at-1"> + </a> + <a name="index-call-to-action_002c-release-free-software"> + </a> + <a name="index-developers_002c-universities"> + </a> + <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 name="index-GNU-_0028see-also-both-software-and-GNU_0029-2"> + </a> + GNU operating system, in 1984, my first step was to quit my job at + <a name="index-MIT-4"> + </a> + 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 GNU General Public License (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 + <a name="index-FSF_002c-universities"> + </a> + 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 + <a name="index-GPL_002c-universities-and"> + </a> + 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 + <a name="index-NYU"> + </a> + NYU +developed the + <a name="index-Ada-compiler_002c-GNU"> + </a> + <a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-Ada-compiler"> + </a> + GNU Ada Compiler, with funding from the + <a name="index-Air-Force_002c-US-1"> + </a> + 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> + Not all universities have grasping policies. The + <a name="index-University-of-Texas"> + </a> + University of Texas +has a policy that makes it easy to release software developed there as +free software under the GNU General Public License. + <a name="index-Univates"> + </a> + Univates, in + <a name="index-Brazil"> + </a> + Brazil, and the + <a name="index-International-Institute-of-Information-Technology"> + </a> + International Institute of Information Technology in +Hyderabad, + <a name="index-India"> + </a> + 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? + <a name="index-GPL_002c-universities-and-1"> + </a> + </p> + <p> + Whatever approach you use, 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> + <a name="index-developers_002c-solid-values-for-free-software"> + </a> + <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> + <a name="index-citizen-values_002c-convenience-v_002e-2"> + </a> + <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. + <a name="index-universities_002c-releasing-free-software-at-2"> + </a> + <a name="index-education_002c-free-software-in-2"> + </a> + <a name="index-call-to-action_002c-release-free-software-1"> + </a> + <a name="index-developers_002c-universities-1"> + </a> + </p> + <hr size="2"/> + |