Is freeware Free Software?
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I have been looking at a variety of different plug-ins that are available for IceCat and I am seeing the term freeware come up often is the license for the software. I had done some research into Free Software Licenses here
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html
and here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_FSF_approved_software_licences
They describe many Free Software Licenses, even covering how public domain is counted, but I still don't see anything about freeware.
Could someone please help explain.
Thank GNU.
The term "Freeware" refers to the software you don't need to pay for it.
For example Free Software is at the same time "Freeware", like
"Evolution", "aMule"... But this generally causes confusion, because
although Free Software is "Freeware", "Freeware" is not always Free
Software. Free Software specifies that the user is free to use the
program as he wants, to share it, to modify it and to study it, even to
redistribute modified copies of the program, "Freeware" only refers to
the economic aspect, so it's not always Free Software, for example,
"Windows Live Messenger" is "Freeware", but completely closed.
Think as "Freeware" as free beer, and "Free Software" as free speech.
Free Software has in count the ethics and human rights.
So, if in the licenses appears as "Freeware" the most probably is that
it's not Free Software.
El dl 11 de 01 de 2010 a les 22:20 +0100, en/na name at domain va
escriure:
> I have been looking at a variety of different plug-ins that are available for
> IceCat and I am seeing the term freeware come up often is the license for the
> software. I had done some research into Free Software Licenses here
>
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html
>
> and here
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_FSF_approved_software_licences
>
> They describe many Free Software Licenses, even covering how public domain is
> counted, but I still don't see anything about freeware.
>
> Could someone please help explain.
>
> Thank GNU.
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> Trisquel-users mailing list
> name at domain
> http://listas.trisquel.info/mailman/listinfo/trisquel-users
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I am a translator!
Freeware is simply proprietary software you don't have to pay for. If software is described as "freeware", you can be 100% certain it isn't free software. In terms of your rights as a user, the only difference between freeware and proprietary software you pay for is monetary cost.
Free software is software that you, the user, are free to use, redistribute, or modify as you desire. It is software that holds the rights of the user in the highest regard. Although nearly all free software is available free of charge, it is technically permissible to sell it (confusing, I know).
Thank GNU for the explanation. I had understood that Free Software is about freedom as well as that it can be sold. I have read about half of Free Software Free Society as well as listened to many speeches by RMS. I was just unsure of the term freeware as far as a license as it comes up a lot and neither of the two lists I pointed links to recognized it as Free Software or otherwise.
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