Essay Shop: Free Software, Free Society
This is the latest edition of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman.
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Copyright © 2002, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire book are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice is preserved. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this book from the original English into another language provided the translation has been approved by the Free Software Foundation and the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
ISBN 978-0-9831592-0-9
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Chapters
Saving Europe from Software Patents
Imagine that each time you made a software design decision, and especially whenever you used an algorithm that you read in a journal or implemented a feature that users ask for, you took a risk of being sued.
Pay to read more...Who does that server really serve?
On the Internet, proprietary software isn't the only way to lose your computing freedom. Service as a Software Substitute, or SaaSS, is another way to give someone else power over your computing.
Pay to read more...The Free Software Community After 20 Years:
It was 5 Jan 1984, twenty years ago today, that I quit my job at MIT to begin developing a free software operating system, GNU . While we have never released a complete GNU system suitable for production use, a variant of the GNU system is now used by tens of millions of people who mostly are not aware it is such. Free software does not mean “gratis”; it means that users are free to run the program, study the source code, change it, and redistribute it either with or without changes, either gratis or for a fee.
Pay to read more...When Free Software Depends on Nonfree
When a program is free software (free as in freedom), that means it gives users the four freedoms , so that they control what the program does. In most cases, that is sufficient for the program's distribution to be ethical; but not always. There are additional problems that can arise in specific circumstances. This article describes a subtle problem, where upgrading the free program requires using a nonfree program.
Pay to read more...On the Microsoft Verdict
Many GNU/Linux users think of the system as competition for Microsoft. But the Free Software Movement aims to solve a problem that is much bigger than Microsoft: proprietary, nonfree software, designed to keep users helpless and prohibit cooperation. Microsoft is the largest developer of such software, but many other companies treat the users' freedom just as badly; if they have not shackled as many users as Microsoft, it is not for lack of trying.
Pay to read more...Initial Announcement
This is the original announcement of the GNU Project, posted by Richard Stallman on September 27, 1983.
Pay to read more...How To Pronounce GNU
The name “GNU” is a recursive acronym for “GNU's Not Unix!”; it is pronounced as one syllable with a hard g , like “grew” but with the letter n instead of r .
Pay to read more...Third Party Ideas
These articles give other people's philosophical opinions in support of free software, or related issues, and don't speak for the GNU project—but we more or less agree with them.
Pay to read more...Linux, GNU, and Freedom
Since Joe Barr's article criticized my dealings with SIGLINUX, I would like to set the record straight about what actually occurred, and state my reasons.
Pay to read more...Interview with Richard Stallman (2001)
Richard M. Stallman is the most forceful and famous practitioner/theorist of free software , a term he coined. “Free” here means free as in “free speech,” not free as in “free beer.” Stallman's most famous intervention in the “free software” movement has surely been the GNU General Public License ( GPL ), which Stallman created around 1985 as a general license that could be applied to any program. The license codifies the concept of “ copyleft ,” the “central idea” of which Stallman has described as giving “everyone permission to run the program, copy the program, modify the program, and distribute modified versions, but not permission to add restrictions of their own. Thus, the crucial freedoms that define ‘free software’ are guaranteed to everyone who has a copy; they become inalienable rights” (Stallman, “The GNU Operating System and the Free Software Movement,” in DiBona, Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution )
Pay to read more...Avoiding Ruinous Compromises
Twenty-five years ago on September 27, 1983, I announced a plan to create a completely free operating system called GNU—for “GNU's Not Unix.” As part of the 25th anniversary of the GNU system, I have written this article on how our community can avoid ruinous compromises. In addition to avoiding such compromises, there are many ways you can help GNU and free software. One way is to say no to the use of a nonfree program or an online disservice as often as you can or even once .
Pay to read more...GNU/Linux FAQ
When people see that we use and recommend the name GNU/Linux for a system that many others call just “Linux,” they ask many questions. Here are common questions, and our answers.
Pay to read more...Is It Ever a Good Thing to Use a Nonfree Program?
The question here is, is it ever a good thing to use a nonfree program? Our conclusion is that it is usually a bad thing, harmful to yourself and in some cases to others.
Pay to read more...Introduction to Free Software, Free Society: The Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman
Every generation has its philosopher—a writer or an artist who captures the imagination of a time. Sometimes these philosophers are recognized as such; often it takes generations before the connection is made real. But recognized or not, a time gets marked by the people who speak its ideals, whether in the whisper of a poem, or the blast of a political movement.
Pay to read more...Keep Control of Your Computing, So It Doesn't Control You!
The World Wide Web, developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990 as a system for publishing and viewing information, is slowly being transformed into a system of remote computing. It will store your data, and data about you, often limiting your access to it but allowing FBI access at any time. It will do your computing for you, but you cannot control what it does. It provides various tempting attractions, but you must resist them.
Pay to read more...Overcoming Social Inertia
Almost two decades have passed since the combination of GNU and Linux first made it possible to use a PC in freedom. We have come a long way since then. Now you can even buy a laptop with GNU/Linux preinstalled from more than one hardware vendor—although the systems they ship are not entirely free software. So what holds us back from total success?
Pay to read more...People, Places, Things and Ideas
Software is ideas. Information. It's different from people, places, and things; it's infinitely reduplicable like fire, at almost no cost. This is a truism, even a cliche. But it seems that there are particular consequences that aren't well-explored.
Pay to read more...Funding Art vs Funding Software
I've proposed two new systems to fund artists in a world where we have legalized sharing (noncommercial redistribution of exact copies) of published works. One is for the state to collect taxes for the purpose, and divide the money among artists in proportion to the cube root of the popularity of each one (as measured by surveying samples of the population). The other is for each player to have a “donate” button to anonymously send a small sum (perhaps 50 cents, in the US) to the artists who made the last work played. These funds would go to artists, not to their publishers.
Pay to read more...What Is the Right Way to Upgrade an Installation of Windows?
It is commonplace in the computing field to urge users to “upgrade” to newer versions of Windows (and other nonfree programs) so as to get fixes for “security.” This conclusion follows from the assumption that these programs are honest software, designed to treat the user right. We do not expect that to be the case, and we know it is not the case for Windows. Therefore, we make a different recommendation.
Pay to read more...Applying Copyleft To Non-Software Information
The entry for “ copyleft ” in the definitive hacker lexicon, the Jargon File , reads:
Pay to read more...Free Software Movement
People use free software operating systems such as GNU/Linux for various reasons. Many users switch for practical reasons: because the system is powerful, because it is reliable, or for the convenience of being able to change the software to do what you need.
Pay to read more...Why Software Should Be Free
The existence of software inevitably raises the question of how decisions about its use should be made. For example, suppose one individual who has a copy of a program meets another who would like a copy. It is possible for them to copy the program; who should decide whether this is done? The individuals involved? Or another party, called the “owner”?
Pay to read more...Did You Say “Intellectual Property”? It's a Seductive Mirage
It has become fashionable to toss copyright, patents, and trademarks—three separate and different entities involving three separate and different sets of laws—plus a dozen other laws into one pot and call it “intellectual property.” The distorting and confusing term did not become common by accident. Companies that gain from the confusion promoted it. The clearest way out of the confusion is to reject the term entirely.
Pay to read more...The Curious History of Komongistan(Busting the term “intellectual property”)
The purpose of this parable is to illustrate just how misguided the term “intellectual property” is. When I say that the term “intellectual property” is an incoherent overgeneralization , that it lumps together laws that have very little in common, and that its use is an obstacle to clear thinking about any of those laws, many can't believe I really mean what I say. So sure are they that these laws are related and similar, species of the same genus as it were, that they suppose I am making a big fuss about small differences. Here I aim to show how fundamental the differences are.
Pay to read more...The Danger of Software Patents
This is the transcript of a talk presented on 8 October 2009 at Victoria University of Wellington.
Pay to read more...Anonymous Payment by Phone
Here is an idea for an anonymous payment system that would be useful for some applications.
Pay to read more...The JavaScript Trap
You may be running nonfree programs on your computer every day without realizing it—through your web browser.
Pay to read more...Free Software: Freedom and Cooperation
Transcript of a speech that was given at New York University in New York, NY, on 29 May 2001.
Pay to read more...Richard Stallman Interviewed The Day After SOPA/PIPA Global Protests
Transcript of an interview conducted on January 19, 2012, the day after the global web blackout protests took place against the controversial SOPA and PIPA copyright bills. The GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation joined the protest .
Pay to read more...Your Freedom Needs Free Software
Many of us know that governments can threaten the human rights of software users through censorship and surveillance of the Internet. Many do not realize that the software they run on their home or work computers can be an even worse threat. Thinking of software as “just a tool,” they suppose that it obeys them, when in fact it often obeys others instead.
Pay to read more...What's in a Name?
Names convey meanings; our choice of names determines the meaning of what we say. An inappropriate name gives people the wrong idea. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet—but if you call it a pen, people will be rather disappointed when they try to write with it. And if you call pens “roses,” people may not realize what they are good for. If you call our operating system Linux, that conveys a mistaken idea of the system's origin, history, and purpose. If you call it GNU/Linux , that conveys (though not in detail) an accurate idea.
Pay to read more...The Curious Incident of Sun in the Night-Time
We leave this web page in place for the sake of history, but as of December 2006, Sun is in the middle of rereleasing its Java platform under the GNU GPL . When this license change is completed, we expect Sun's Java will be free software.
Pay to read more...Patent Reform Is Not Enough
When people first learn about the problem of software patents, their attention is often drawn to the egregious examples: patents that cover techniques already widely known. These techniques include sorting a collection of formulae so that no variable is used before it is calculated (called “natural order recalculation” in spreadsheets), and the use of exclusive-or to modify the contents of a bit-map display.
Pay to read more...Android and Users' Freedom
To what extent does Android respect the freedom of its users? For a computer user that values freedom, that is the most important question to ask about any software system.
Pay to read more...Freedom—or Copyright? (Old Version)
There is an updated version of this article.
Pay to read more...Can You Trust Your Computer?
Who should your computer take its orders from? Most people think their computers should obey them, not obey someone else. With a plan they call “trusted computing,” large media corporations (including the movie companies and record companies), together with computer companies such as Microsoft and Intel, are planning to make your computer obey them instead of you. (Microsoft's version of this scheme is called Palladium.) Proprietary programs have included malicious features before, but this plan would make it universal.
Pay to read more...Why programs must not limit the freedom to run them
Free software means software controlled by its users, rather than the reverse. Specifically, it means the software comes with four essential freedoms that software users deserve . At the head of the list is freedom 0, the freedom to run the program as you wish, in order to do what you wish.
Pay to read more...GNU-FSF cooperation update
The Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project leadership are defining how these two separate groups cooperate. Our mutual aim is to work together as peers, while minimizing change in the practical aspects of this cooperation, so we can advance in our common free software mission.
Pay to read more...Is Microsoft the Great Satan?
This article was given a major rewrite in 2009. The old version is also available.
Pay to read more...Stop H.R. 3028 - Protect the Net - Stop the Trademark Monopolists
This bill fits a pattern: every time Congress wants to create a new monopoly covering some activity formerly open to all, or extend and increase an old monopoly, they apply the term “piracy” to the free activity that the monopoly will stamp out. So whenever you see anything described as “piracy” aside from the capturing of ships, watch out for your liberties!
Pay to read more...Giving the Software Field Protection from Patents
Patents threaten every software developer, and the patent wars we have long feared have broken out. Software developers and software users—which, in our society, is most people—need software to be free of patents.
Pay to read more...GNU Kind Communications Guidelines
The GNU Project encourages contributions from anyone who wishes to advance the development of the GNU system, regardless of gender, race, ethnic group, physical appearance, religion, cultural background, and any other demographic characteristics, as well as personal political views.
Pay to read more...Censoring My Software
Last summer, a few clever legislators proposed a bill to “prohibit pornography” on the Internet. Last fall, the right-wing Christians made this cause their own. Last week, President Clinton signed the bill. This week, I'm censoring GNU Emacs.
Pay to read more...Freedom—or Copyright?
This essay addresses how the principles of software freedom apply in some cases to other works of authorship and art. It's included here since it involves the application of the ideas of free software.
Pay to read more...The Wassenaar Arrangement
Our first information about the new Wassenaar Arrangement came in the form of a newspaper article, which said that export of encryption software would be prohibited—and this seemed to include free software. So we posted an announcement seeking people in non-Wassenaar countries to participate in distribution and development of free software for encryption.
Pay to read more...The Structure and Administration of the GNU Project
The GNU Project develops and maintains the GNU operating system . Through this work, and other related activities, the GNU Project advocates and promotes software freedom , the core philosophy of the free software movement.
Pay to read more...Selling Exceptions to the GNU GPL
Selling exceptions means that the copyright holder of the code releases it to the general public under a valid free software license, then separately offers users the option of paying for permission to use the same code under different terms, for instance terms allowing its inclusion in proprietary applications.
Pay to read more...Free Software and Sustainable Development
Many organizations that aim to promote development by spreading the use of computers make a fundamental mistake: they promote the use of proprietary (nonfree) software. Using proprietary software is not development; it makes society dependent, not strong.
Pay to read more...Imperfection is not the same as oppression
When a free program lacks capabilities that users want, that is unfortunate; we urge people to add what is missing. Some would go further and claim that a program is not even free software if it lacks certain functionality—that it denies freedom 0 (the freedom to run the program as you wish) to users or uses that it does not support. This argument is misguided because it is based on identifying capacity with freedom, and imperfection with oppression.
Pay to read more...Reevaluating Copyright: The Public Must Prevail
The legal world is aware that digital information technology poses “problems for copyright,” but has not traced these problems to their root cause: a fundamental conflict between publishers of copyrighted works and the users of these works. The publishers, understanding their own interest, have set forth a proposal through the Clinton Administration to fix the “problems” by deciding the conflict in their favor. This proposal, the Lehman White Paper, [2] was the principal focus of the Innovation and the Information Environment conference at the University of Oregon (November 1995).
Pay to read more...MyDoom and You
I grew up in a community whose other members sometimes committed crimes as serious as murder. The city of New York, with its 8 million inhabitants, had hundreds of murders each year, mostly committed by people who lived in the city. Violent assaults and robberies were even more common.
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