yes-give-it-away.html (5687B)
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="gnu-history" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>Yes, Give It Away 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <!--#include virtual="/gnu/po/yes-give-it-away.translist" --> 9 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 10 <!--#include virtual="/gnu/gnu-breadcrumb.html" --> 11 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 12 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 13 <div class="article reduced-width"> 14 <h2>Yes, Give It Away</h2> 15 16 <address class="byline">by <a href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard 17 Stallman</a></address> 18 19 <div class="introduction"> 20 <p>Editor's note: This text was found in a file dated May 21 1983, though it is not clear whether it was written then or earlier. 22 In May 1983 Richard Stallman was privately considering plans to develop a 23 free operating system, but he may not yet have decided to make it a 24 Unix-like system rather than something like the MIT Lisp Machine.</p> 25 26 <p>He had not yet conceptually distinguished the two meanings of 27 “free”; this message is formulated in terms of gratis 28 copies, but take for granted that this means users also have freedom.</p> 29 </div> 30 <hr class="no-display" /> 31 32 <p>One of the important reasons for giving software away free is to 33 enable the users to change it. This allows them to make better use of 34 it, and also encourages and enables them to contribute to the 35 effort. Furthermore, they develop self-reliance, confidence, and a 36 sense of responsibility.</p> 37 38 <p>I've often heard that Americans will think something is worthless 39 if it's free. It might be true, but it's not rational. People have a 40 right to be neurotic but we should not encourage this. In the mean 41 time, giving software away is not “treating it as 42 worthless” just because some masochists might conclude it was 43 worthless.</p> 44 45 <p>Users would not change software if it were worthless; rather, 46 because it is worth more to them as changed than before. 47 Some central maintenance is also useful, but there are other 48 ways to provide for this aside from hassling the users.</p> 49 50 <p>I have a lot of experience with sharing software and having 51 the users change it. I find that</p> 52 53 <ol> 54 <li>there is little tendency to believe EMACS is worthless</li> 55 <li>users change EMACS a lot</li> 56 <li>users' changes contribute to EMACS development</li> 57 <li>centralized maintenance of EMACS continues</li> 58 </ol> 59 60 <p>I approached users in a non-manipulative cooperative spirit, and 61 they reacted enthusiastically and cooperatively. When told that 62 restrictions are being imposed to trick their neuroses or because they 63 are assumed in advance to be incompetent, they feel justifiable 64 resentment. They also tend to become incompetent and neurotic as a 65 result.</p> 66 </div> 67 68 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 69 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 70 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 71 <div class="unprintable"> 72 73 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 74 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 75 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 76 the FSF. 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For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 104 document was modified, or published. 105 106 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 107 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 108 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 109 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 110 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 111 112 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 113 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 114 115 <p>Copyright © 1983, 2015, 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p> 116 117 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" 118 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative 119 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> 120 121 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 122 123 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 124 <!-- timestamp start --> 125 $Date: 2021/11/28 07:45:37 $ 126 <!-- timestamp end --> 127 </p> 128 </div> 129 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 130 </body> 131 </html>