practical.html (4454B)
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 action" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>The advantages of free software 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/practical.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!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--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>The advantages of free software</h2> 15 16 <address class="byline">by Richard Stallman</address> 17 18 <div class="introduction"> 19 <p><em>People outside the free software movement frequently ask about 20 the practical advantages of free software. It is a curious question.</em></p> 21 </div> 22 23 <p>Nonfree software is bad because it denies your freedom. Thus, asking 24 about the practical advantages of free software is like asking about 25 the practical advantages of not being handcuffed. Indeed, it has 26 advantages:</p> 27 28 <ul> 29 <li>You can wear an ordinary shirt.</li> 30 <li>You can get through metal detectors without triggering them.</li> 31 <li>You can keep a hand on the steering wheel while you shift gears.</li> 32 <li>You can pitch a baseball.</li> 33 <li>You can carry a backpack.</li> 34 </ul> 35 36 <p>We could find more, but do you need these advantages to 37 convince you to reject handcuffs? Probably not, because you 38 understand that your freedom is what's at stake.</p> 39 40 <p>Once you realize that that's what's at stake with nonfree software, 41 you won't need to ask what practical advantages free software has.</p> 42 </div> 43 44 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 45 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 46 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 47 <div class="unprintable"> 48 49 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 50 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 51 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 52 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent 53 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 54 55 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 56 replace it with the translation of these two: 57 58 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 59 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 60 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 61 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 62 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 63 64 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 65 our web pages, see <a 66 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 67 README</a>. --> 68 Please see the <a 69 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 70 README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations 71 of this article.</p> 72 </div> 73 74 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to 75 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should 76 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this 77 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. 78 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the 79 document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 80 document was modified, or published. 81 82 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 83 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 84 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 85 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 86 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 87 88 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 89 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 90 91 <p>Copyright © 2010, 2021 Richard Stallman</p> 92 93 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" 94 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative 95 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> 96 97 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 98 99 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 100 <!-- timestamp start --> 101 $Date: 2021/10/01 10:55:57 $ 102 <!-- timestamp end --> 103 </p> 104 </div> 105 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 106 </body> 107 </html>