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 <title>Is It Ever a Good Thing to Use a Nonfree Program? 
 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
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 <h2>Is It Ever a Good Thing to Use a Nonfree Program?</h2>
 
 <address class="byline">by Richard Stallman</address>
 
 <p>The question here is, is it ever a good thing to use a nonfree
 program?  Our conclusion is that it is usually a bad thing,
 harmful to yourself and in some cases to others.</p>
 
 <p>If you run a nonfree program on your computer, it denies your
 freedom; the immediate wrong is directed at
 you&#8239;<a class="ftn" href="#f1">[1]</a>.</p>
 
 <p>That does <em>not</em> mean you're an &ldquo;evildoer&rdquo; or
 &ldquo;sinner&rdquo; for running a nonfree program.  When the harm
 you're doing is mainly to yourself, we hope you will stop, for your
 own sake.</p>
 
 <p>Sometimes you may face great pressure to run a nonfree program; we
 don't say you must defy that pressure at all costs (though it is
 inspiring when someone does that), but we do urge you
 to <a href="/philosophy/saying-no-even-once.html"> look for occasions
 to where you can refuse, even in small ways</a>.</p>
 
 <p>If you recommend that others run the nonfree program,
 or lead them to do so, you're leading them to give
 up their freedom. Thus, we have a responsibility not to lead
 or encourage others to run nonfree software.  Where the program uses
 a secret protocol for communication, as in the case of Skype, your own
 use of it pressures others to use it too, so it is especially
 important to avoid any use of these programs.</p>
 
 <p>But there is one special case where using some nonfree software, and
 even urging others to use it, can be a positive thing. That's when
 the use of the nonfree software aims directly at putting an end to the
 use of that very same nonfree software&#8239;<a class="ftn" href="#f2">[2]</a>.</p>
 
 <h3>In the past</h3>
 
 <p>In 1983 I decided to develop the GNU operating system, as a free
 replacement for Unix. The feasible way to do it was to write and test
 the components one by one on Unix. But was it legitimate to use Unix
 for this? And was it legitimate to ask others to use Unix for this,
 given that Unix was proprietary software?  (Of course, if it had not
 been proprietary, it would not have required replacing.)</p>
 
 <p>The conclusion I reached was that using Unix to put an end to the use
 of Unix was legitimate for me to suggest to other developers.
 I likened it to participating in small ways
 in some evil activity, such as a criminal gang or a dishonest
 political campaign, in order to expose it and shut it down. While
 participating in the activity is wrong in itself, shutting it down
 excuses minor peripheral participation, comparable to merely using
 Unix. This argument would not justify being a ringleader, but I was
 only considering using Unix, not going to work for its development
 team.</p>
 
 <p>The job of replacing Unix was completed when the last essential
 component was replaced by Linux, the kernel started by Linus Torvalds
 in 1991. We still add to the GNU/Linux system, but that doesn't
 require using Unix, so it isn't a reason for using Unix&mdash;not any
 more. Thus, whenever you're using a nonfree program for this sort of
 reason, you should reconsider from time to time whether the need still
 exists.</p>
 
 <h3>Nowadays</h3>
 
 <p>However, there are other nonfree programs we still need to replace,
 and the analogous question often arises. Should you run the nonfree
 driver for a peripheral to help you develop a free replacement driver?
 (More precisely, is it ethical for us to suggest that you do so?)
 Yes, by all means. Is it ok to run
 the <a href="/philosophy/javascript-trap.html">nonfree
 JavaScript</a> on a web site in order to file complaint asking the
 webmasters to free that JavaScript code, or make the site work without
 it?  Definitely&mdash;but other than that, you should
 have <a href="/software/librejs/">LibreJS</a> block
 it for you.</p>
 
 <p>But this justification won't stretch any further. People that develop
 nonfree software, even software with malicious functionalities, often
 try to excuse this on the grounds that they fund some development of
 free software. However, a business that is basically wrong can't be
 legitimized by spending some of the profits on a worthy cause. For
 instance, some (not all) of the activities of the Gates Foundation are
 laudable, but they don't excuse Bill Gates's career, or Microsoft. If
 the business works directly against the worthy cause it tries to
 legitimize itself with, that is a self-contradiction and it undermines
 the cause.</p>
 
 <p>Even using a nonfree program to develop free software in general is
 better to avoid, and not suggest to others. For instance, we should
 not ask people to run Windows or MacOS in order to make free
 applications run on them. As developer of Emacs and GCC, I accepted
 changes to make them support nonfree systems such as VMS, Windows and
 MacOS.  I had no reason to reject that code, even though people had
 run nonfree systems to write it.  Their use of unjust systems was not
 at my request or suggestion; rather, they were already using them
 before starting to write changes for GNU.  They also did the packaging
 of releases for those systems.</p>
 
 <p>The &ldquo;developing its own replacement&rdquo; exception is valid within its
 limits, and crucial for the progress of free software, but we must
 resist stretching it any further lest it turn into an all-purpose
 excuse for any profitable activity with nonfree software.</p>
 <div class="column-limit"></div>
 
 <h3 class="footnote">Footnotes</h3>
 <ol>
 <li id="f1">
 <p>Using the nonfree 
 program can have unfortunate indirect effects, such as rewarding the 
 perpetrator and encouraging more use of that program.  This is a 
 further reason to shun use of nonfree programs.</p>
 
 <p>Most proprietary programs come with an End User License Agreement
 that hardly anyone reads.  Tucked away in it, in most cases, is an
 unethical commitment to behave like an uncooperative, bad neighbor. 
 It claims you promised not to distribute copies to others, or even
 lend someone a copy.</p>
 
 <p>To carry out such a commitment is more wrong than to break it.  No
 matter what legalistic arguments they might make, the developers can
 hardly claim their shady trick gives users a moral obligation to be
 uncooperative.</p>
 
 <p>However, we think that the truly moral path is to carefully reject
 such agreements.</p>
 </li>
 
 <li id="f2">
 <p>Occasionally it is necessary to use and even upgrade a nonfree
 system on a machine in order to install a free system to replace it on
 that machine.  This is not exactly the same issue, but the same
 arguments apply: it is legitimate to recommend running some nonfree
 software momentarily in order to remove it.</p>
 </li>
 </ol>
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 <p>Copyright &copy; 2013, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2021 Richard Stallman</p>
 
 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative
 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>
 
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