netscape.html (4920B)
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 licensing non-cpleft" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>Netscape and Free Software 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/netscape.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!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--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>Netscape and Free Software</h2> 15 16 <p><a href="/philosophy/netscape-npl.html">More recent news about Netscape</a></p> 17 <hr class="thin" /> 18 19 <p>People have been writing with joy to tell us that Netscape has 20 announced a plan to make its browser free software, under the GNU GPL.</p> 21 22 <p>That is getting a bit ahead of events. The announcement Netscape made 23 does not actually say that they will use the GNU GPL, and does not 24 assert that the program will 25 be <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a> as we define 26 it in our community. It's clear that Netscape will take a big step in 27 the direction of free software, but we don't know whether they will 28 get all the way there or fall substantially short. In fact, Netscape 29 is still deciding what to do.</p> 30 31 <p>When they decide, two crucial questions will be whether people will be 32 free to distribute copies for a fee (on free software CD-ROM 33 collections, for example) and whether people will be free to 34 redistribute modified versions just like the original version. If 35 either of those freedoms is lacking, the program won't be free 36 software.</p> 37 38 <p>If Netscape does release the Netscape browser as free software, that 39 will be a great day for the free software movement. But rather than 40 rejoicing or criticizing now, let's see what actually happens, and 41 then we'll know whether to celebrate. What we can usefully do now is 42 urge Netscape, calmly and politely, to make the software free, and to 43 copyleft it with the <a href="/licenses/gpl.html">GNU General Public 44 License</a>.</p> 45 </div> 46 47 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 48 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 49 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 50 <div class="unprintable"> 51 52 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 53 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 54 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 55 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent 56 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 57 58 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 59 replace it with the translation of these two: 60 61 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 62 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 63 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 64 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 65 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 66 67 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 68 our web pages, see <a 69 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 70 README</a>. --> 71 Please see the <a 72 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 73 README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations 74 of this article.</p> 75 </div> 76 77 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to 78 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should 79 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this 80 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. 81 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the 82 document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 83 document was modified, or published. 84 85 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 86 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 87 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 88 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 89 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 90 91 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 92 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 93 94 <p>Copyright © 1998, 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p> 95 96 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" 97 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative 98 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> 99 100 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 101 102 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 103 <!-- timestamp start --> 104 $Date: 2021/10/02 08:24:42 $ 105 <!-- timestamp end --> 106 </p> 107 </div> 108 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 109 </body> 110 </html>