philosophy.html (7142B)
1 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> 2 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> 3 <!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> 4 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 5 <title>Philosophy of the GNU Project 6 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 7 <style type="text/css" media="print,screen"><!-- 8 @media (min-width: 55em) { 9 .table { display: table; } 10 .left-column { 11 display: table-cell; 12 width: 65%; 13 vertical-align: top; 14 padding-right: 1em; 15 } 16 .right-column { padding: 1em 0 0 2em; } 17 } 18 --></style> 19 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/philosophy.translist" --> 20 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 21 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/philosophy-menu.html" --> 22 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 23 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 24 <h2>Philosophy of the GNU Project</h2> 25 <div class="thin"></div> 26 27 <div class="table"> 28 <div class="left-column"> 29 <p><em>Free software</em> means that the software's users have 30 freedom. (The issue is not about price.) We developed the GNU 31 operating system so that users can have freedom in their 32 computing.</p> 33 34 <p>Specifically, free software means users have 35 the <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">four essential freedoms</a>: 36 (0) to run the program, (1) to study and change the program in source 37 code form, (2) to redistribute exact copies, and (3) to distribute 38 modified versions.</p> 39 40 <p>Software differs from material objects—such as chairs, 41 sandwiches, and gasoline—in that it can be copied and changed 42 much more easily. These facilities are why software is useful; we 43 believe a program's users should be free to take advantage of them, 44 not solely its developer.</p> 45 46 <div class="comment"> 47 <p>The articles in the short list below give an overview of GNU 48 philosophy. For further reading, please check the menu above, especially 49 <b><a href="/philosophy/essays-and-articles.html">Essays & 50 Articles</a></b>, and <b><a href="/philosophy/speeches-and-interviews.html"> 51 Speeches & Interviews</a></b>.</p> 52 </div> 53 </div> 54 55 <div class="right-column comment"> 56 <hr class="no-display" /> 57 <p class="announcement"> 58 See <a href="//audio-video.gnu.org/">audio-video.gnu.org</a> 59 for recordings of Richard Stallman's speeches.</p> 60 <hr class="no-display" /> 61 </div> 62 </div> 63 64 <h3 id="introduction">Introduction</h3> 65 66 <div class="table"> 67 <div class="left-column"> 68 <ul> 69 <li><a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">What is Free Software?</a></li> 70 <li><a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html"> 71 Why we must insist on free software</a></li> 72 <li><a href="/proprietary/proprietary.html"> 73 Proprietary Software Is Often Malware</a></li> 74 <li><a href="/gnu/gnu.html">History of GNU/Linux</a></li> 75 <li><a href="/philosophy/pragmatic.html">Copyleft: Pragmatic Idealism</a></li> 76 <li><a href="/philosophy/free-doc.html">Why Free Software Needs 77 Free Documentation</a></li> 78 <li><a href="/philosophy/selling.html">Selling Free Software</a> is OK!</li> 79 <li><a href="/philosophy/fs-motives.html">Motives For Writing Free Software</a></li> 80 <li><a href="/philosophy/right-to-read.html">The Right to Read: A 81 Dystopian Short Story</a> by Richard Stallman</li> 82 <li><a href="/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">Why 83 “Open Source” Misses the Point of Free Software</a></li> 84 <li><a href="/philosophy/when-free-software-isnt-practically-superior.html">When 85 Free Software Isn't (Practically) Superior</a></li> 86 <li><a href="/philosophy/government-free-software.html">Measures 87 Governments Can Use to Promote Free Software</a></li> 88 <li><a href="/education/education.html">Free Software and Education</a></li> 89 <li><a href="/philosophy/limit-patent-effect.html">Giving the Software 90 Field Protection from Patents</a></li> 91 </ul> 92 </div> 93 94 <!-- please leave both these ID attributes here. ... --> 95 <!-- ... we removed this as an H$ section as it was duplicating the --> 96 <!-- same information on links.html, but it's possible that some users --> 97 <!-- have the URLs bookmarked or on their pages. -len --> 98 <div id="TOCFreedomOrganizations" class="right-column comment"> 99 <p id="FreedomOrganizations" class="announcement">We also keep a list of 100 <a href="/links/links.html#FreedomOrganizations">Organizations 101 that Work for Freedom in 102 Computer Development and Electronic Communications</a>.</p> 103 </div> 104 </div> 105 106 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 107 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 108 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 109 <div class="unprintable"> 110 111 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 112 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 113 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 114 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent 115 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 116 117 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 118 replace it with the translation of these two: 119 120 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 121 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 122 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 123 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 124 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 125 126 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 127 our web pages, see <a 128 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 129 README</a>. --> 130 Please see the <a 131 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 132 README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations 133 of this article.</p> 134 </div> 135 136 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to 137 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should 138 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this 139 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. 140 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the 141 document. 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