When most people think about free software, the first thought that usually comes to mind is price. Although it is true that most free software is, in fact, free in price (gratis), that is not the most important part of the essence of free software. The most important part of free software is the freedom of you and all users.
A program is free software if the user has the following freedoms:
- (Freedom 0) The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose
- (Freedom 1) The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish.
- (Freedom 2) The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
- (Freedom 3)The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.
If these four freedoms are not given to the user, then the program is considered non-free (proprietary).
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Revisions
09/03/2014 - 04:25
08/16/2015 - 00:37