195 lines
7.3 KiB
HTML
195 lines
7.3 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?>
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<!DOCTYPE html
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PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
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"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
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<html lang="en">
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<head>
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<title>FSF Europe - What is Free Software?</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<div> <!-- The header will be inserted here -->
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<!-- Begin page content -->
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<div align="center">
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<h2>What is Free Software?</h2>
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</div>
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<p>Free in
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Free Software is referring to freedom, not price. Having been used in
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this meaning since the 80s, the first documented complete definition appears to
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be the GNU's Bulletin, vol. 1
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no. 6<A NAME="tex2html1"
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HREF="#foot47"><SUP>1</SUP></A>,
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published January 1989. In particular, four freedoms define<A NAME="tex2html3"
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HREF="#foot48"><SUP>2</SUP></A> Free Software:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><B>The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.</B>
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<br />
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<br />
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<em>Placing restrictions on the use of Free Software, such as time
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(``30 days trial period'', ``license expires January 1st, 2004'')
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purpose (``permission granted for research and non-commercial
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use'') or geographic area (``must not be used in country X'')
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makes a program non-free.</em>
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</li><br />
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<li><B>The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to
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your needs.</B>
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<br />
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<br />
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<em>Placing legal or practical restrictions on the comprehension or
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modification of a program, such as mandatory purchase of special
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licenses, signing of a Non-Disclosure-Agreement (NDA) or - for
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programming languages that have multiple forms or representation
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- making the preferred human way of comprehending and editing a
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program (``source code'') inaccessible also makes it
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proprietary (non-free). Without the freedom to modify a program, people will
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remain at the mercy of a single vendor.</em>
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</li><br />
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<li><B>The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your
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neighbor.</B>
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<br />
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<br />
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<em>Software can be copied/distributed at virtually no cost. If you are
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not allowed to give a program to a person in need, that makes a
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program non-free. This can be done for a charge, if you so
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choose.</em>
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</li><br />
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<li><B>The freedom to improve the program, and release your
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improvements to the public, so that the whole community
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benefits.</B>
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<br />
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<br />
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<em>Not everyone is an equally good programmer in all fields. Some
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people don't know how to program at all. This freedom allows those
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who do not have the time or skills to solve a problem to
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indirectly access the freedom to modify. This can be done for a
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charge.</em>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>These freedoms are rights, not obligations, although respecting
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these freedoms for society may at times oblige the individual. Any
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person can choose to not make use of them, but may also choose to make
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use of all of them. In particular, it should be understood that Free
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Software does not exclude commercial use. If a program fails to allow
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commercial use and commercial distribution, it is not Free
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Software. Indeed a growing number of companies base their business
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model completely or at least partially on Free Software, including
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some of the largest proprietary software vendors. Free Software makes
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it legal to provide help and assistance, it does not make it
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mandatory.</p>
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<br />
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<br />
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<hr />
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<br />
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<h3>Terminology</h3>
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<p>English seems to be the only language in which such a strong
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ambiguity exists between freedom and price. When translated into
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other languages, Free Software becomes ``logiciels libre'' in French,
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``software libre'' in Spanish, ``software libero'' in Portugese, ``Fri
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Software'' in Danish or whatever is the equivalent term in the local
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language referring to freedom.</p>
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<br />
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<b>Open Source</b><br />
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<p>On February 3rd 1998, in the wake of Netscapes
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announcement to release their browser as Free Software, a group of
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people met in Palo Alto in the Silicon Valley and proposed to start a
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marketing campaign for Free Software using the term ``Open Source.'' The
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goal was to seek fast commercialization of Free Software and acceptance
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of Free Software by the companies and venture capitalists of the booming
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new economy. As a means to this end, they made a conscious decision to
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leave aside all long-term issues (such as philosophy, ethics and social
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effects) related to Free Software, feeling these posed obstacles in the
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way of rapid acceptance by economy. They proposed to focus on technical
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advantages only.<A NAME="tex2html5"
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HREF="#foot49"><SUP>3</SUP></A></p>
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<p>Often used in good faith by people who refer to what Free
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Software stands for, the term ``Open Source'' - originally defined to
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mean the same thing as Free Software in terms of licenses and
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implementation - has seen inflationary usage. Nowadays, it is
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regularly used for everything between Free Software and the highly
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proprietary ``Governmental Security Program'' (GSP) by
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Microsoft.<A NAME="tex2html7"
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HREF="#foot32"><SUP>4</SUP></A></p>
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<p>For more information about the issue, please also see the "<a
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href="/documents/whyfs.html">We speak about Free Software</a>"
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campaign.</p>
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<br />
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<b>Libre Software</b><br />
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<p>
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When the European Commission started dealing with
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Free Software on a regular basis, they sought to avoid the ambiguity of
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the English word ``Free Software'' and the misunderstandings of ``Open
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Source'' alike, which led to the creation of a new term: ``Libre
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Software.'' This term has proven resistant to inflationary usage and is
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still used in an identical way to Free Software. So it may pose a
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solution for those who fear being misunderstood when speaking
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English.</p>
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<br />
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<br />
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<hr />
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<DL />
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<DT /><A NAME="foot47">...
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no. 6</A><A NAME="foot47"
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HREF="#tex2html1"><SUP>1</SUP></A>
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<DD /><TT><A NAME="tex2html2"
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HREF="http://www.gnu.org/bulletins/bull6.html">http://www.gnu.org/bulletins/bull6.html</A></TT><br />
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<DT /><A NAME="foot48">... define</A><A NAME="foot48"
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HREF="#tex2html3"><SUP>2</SUP></A>
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<DD />For
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the full definition, please see
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<TT><A NAME="tex2html4"
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HREF="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html</A></TT><br />
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<DT /><A NAME="foot49">... only.</A><A NAME="foot49"
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HREF="#tex2html5"><SUP>3</SUP></A>
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<DD />For reference, see
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<TT><A NAME="tex2html6"
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HREF="http://www.opensource.org/advocacy/faq.html">http://www.opensource.org/advocacy/faq.html</A></TT>: <EM>How is ''open
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source'' related to ''free software''? The Open Source Initiative is a
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marketing program for free software. It's a pitch for ''free software''
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on solid pragmatic grounds rather than ideological tub-thumping. The
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winning substance has not changed, the losing attitude and symbolism
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have.</EM> <br />
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<DT /><A NAME="foot32">...
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Microsoft.</A><A NAME="foot32"
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HREF="#tex2html7"><SUP>4</SUP></A>
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<DD />In this program governments and intergovernmental
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organizations pay substantial fees for a superficial look at some parts
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of Windows sourcecode in special Microsoft facilities. This may increase
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``felt security'' but is essentially useless - especially since they do
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not even know whether what they looked at is what they have on their
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computers. And of course it does not give them freedom.<br />
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<!-- End page content -->
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</div> <!-- The footer will be inserted here -->
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Last update:
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<!-- timestamp start -->
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$Date$ $Author$
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<!-- timestamp end -->
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</body>
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</html>
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