free-software-intro.html (5888B)
1 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> 2 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> 3 <!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> 4 <!--#set var="TAGS" value="essays upholding fsmovement" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>Free Software movement 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/free-software-intro.translist" --> 9 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 10 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> 11 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 12 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 13 <div class="article reduced-width"> 14 <h2>Free Software Movement</h2> 15 16 <p> 17 People use free software operating systems such 18 as <a href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux</a> for various 19 reasons. Many users switch for practical reasons: because the system 20 is powerful, because it is reliable, or for the convenience of being 21 able to change the software to do what you need. 22 </p> 23 24 <p> 25 Those are good reasons—but there is more at stake than just 26 convenience. What's at stake is your freedom, and your community. 27 </p> 28 29 <p> 30 The idea of the Free Software Movement is that computer users <a 31 href="/philosophy/why-free.html">deserve the freedom to form a 32 community</a>. You should have the freedom to help yourself, by 33 changing the source code to do whatever you need to do. And the 34 freedom to help your neighbor, by redistributing copies of programs to 35 other people. Also the freedom to help build your community, by 36 publishing improved versions so that other people can use them. 37 </p> 38 39 <p> 40 Whether a program is free software depends mainly on its license. 41 However, a program can also be nonfree because you don't have access 42 to its source code, or because hardware won't let you put a modified 43 version into use (this is called “tivoization”). 44 </p> 45 46 <p> 47 Our <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">detailed definition</a> of free 48 software shows how we evaluate a license to see if it makes programs 49 free software. We also have articles about <a 50 href="/philosophy/essays-and-articles.html#LicensingFreeSoftware">certain 51 specific licenses</a> explaining the advantages and disadvantages of 52 some licenses that do qualify, and why some other licenses are too 53 restrictive to qualify. 54 </p> 55 56 <p> 57 In 1998 the term “open source” was coined and associated 58 with <a href="/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">views 59 considerably different from ours</a>. These views cite only the 60 practical advantages of free software, and carefully avoid the deeper 61 issues of freedom and social solidarity that the Free Software 62 Movement raises. The idea of open source is good as far as it goes, 63 but it only scratches the surface of the issue. We don't mind working 64 with supporters of open source on practical activities such as 65 software development, but we do not agree with their views, and we 66 decline to operate under their name.</p> 67 68 <p> 69 If you think that freedom and community are important for their own 70 sake, please join us in proudly using the term “free 71 software,” and help spread the word. 72 </p> 73 </div> 74 75 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 76 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 77 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 78 <div class="unprintable"> 79 80 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a 81 href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a 82 href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and other 83 corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a 84 href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 85 86 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 87 replace it with the translation of these two: 88 89 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 90 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 91 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 92 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 93 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 94 95 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 96 our web pages, see <a 97 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 98 README</a>. --> 99 Please see the <a 100 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a> for 101 information on coordinating and contributing translations of this article.</p> 102 </div> 103 104 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to 105 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should 106 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this 107 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. 108 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the 109 document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 110 document was modified, or published. 111 112 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 113 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 114 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 115 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 116 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 117 118 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 119 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 120 121 <p>Copyright © 1999, 2008, 2009, 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 122 </p> 123 124 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" 125 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative 126 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> 127 128 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 129 130 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 131 <!-- timestamp start --> 132 $Date: 2021/09/11 09:37:22 $ 133 <!-- timestamp end --> 134 </p> 135 </div> 136 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 137 </body> 138 </html>