19 lines
1.1 KiB
Plaintext
19 lines
1.1 KiB
Plaintext
free software
|
|
|
|
n. As defined by Richard M. Stallman and used by the Free Software movement,
|
|
this means software that gives users enough freedom to be used by the free
|
|
software community. Specifically, users must be free to modify the software
|
|
for their private use, and free to redistribute it either with or without
|
|
modifications, either commercially or noncommercially, either gratis or
|
|
charging a distribution fee. Free software has existed since the dawn of
|
|
computing; Free Software as a movement began in 1984 with the GNU Project.
|
|
RMS observes that the English word free can refer either to liberty (where
|
|
it means the same as the Spanish or French libre ) or to price (where it
|
|
means the same as the Spanish gratis or French gratuit ). RMS and other
|
|
people associated with the FSF like to explain the word free in free
|
|
software by saying Free as in speech, not as in beer. See also open source.
|
|
Hard-core proponents of the term free software sometimes reject this newer
|
|
term, claiming that the style of argument associated with it ignores or
|
|
downplays the moral imperative at the heart of free software.
|
|
|