Revision of What does it mean to be free software? from Sun, 01/23/2011 - 05:45

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Free software, unlike proprietary, is known to respect its users essential rights, to ensure they can:

  • run the program, for any purpose
  • study how the program works, and adapt it to their needs (which requires having access to the program's source code).
  • redistribute copies so they can help anyone
  • improve the program, and release their improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Once again, access to the source code is a precondition.

The word "free" in free software has nothing to do with price, though free software is nearly always distributed without a fee. It has everything to do with freedom, in the same sense as the word "free" in the phrase "free speech". Someone who believes in free speech knows there are certain things that they would never intend to say or publish in any context, but they would still want to deny others the right to say such things. Similarly, with free software, you might never find yourself in a situation of being asked for a copy of a program, and you may never intend to study and/or modify a program's source code, but you still would not want to deny others the right to do these things, because they are essential freedoms.