diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_8.html')
-rw-r--r-- | talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_8.html | 196 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 196 deletions
diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_8.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_8.html deleted file mode 100644 index 75cbf5e..0000000 --- a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_8.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,196 +0,0 @@ -<!-- 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"/> - |