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www/philosophy categories.html
|
From: |
Richard M. Stallman |
|
Subject: |
www/philosophy categories.html |
|
Date: |
Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:18:29 +0000 |
CVSROOT: /webcvs/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Richard M. Stallman <rms> 10/02/15 03:18:29
Modified files:
philosophy : categories.html
Log message:
Delete "semi-free" and make other related fixes.
(GNU software): FSF staff are no longer doing sw development.
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/categories.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.58&r2=1.59
Patches:
Index: categories.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /webcvs/www/www/philosophy/categories.html,v
retrieving revision 1.58
retrieving revision 1.59
diff -u -b -r1.58 -r1.59
--- categories.html 11 Nov 2009 08:42:41 -0000 1.58
+++ categories.html 15 Feb 2010 03:18:25 -0000 1.59
@@ -72,10 +72,9 @@
no common adjective that refers unambiguously to freedom. So
if you are speaking another language, we suggest you translate
“free” into your language to make it clearer. See
- our list of <a href=
- "/philosophy/fs-translations.html">translations of the term
- “free software”</a> into various other
- languages.</p>
+ our list of <a href= "/philosophy/fs-translations.html">
+ translations of the term “free software”</a> into
+ various other languages.</p>
<p>Free software is often <a href="/software/reliability.html">more
reliable</a> than non-free software.</p>
@@ -254,87 +253,32 @@
all GNU software must be <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free
software</a>.</p>
- <p>Some GNU software is written by <a href=
+ <p>Some GNU software was written by <a href=
"http://www.fsf.org/about/staff/";>staff</a> of
the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/";>Free Software
- Foundation</a>, but most GNU software is contributed by
- <a href="/people/people.html">volunteers</a>. Some contributed
- software is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation; some is
- copyrighted by the contributors who wrote it.</p>
+ Foundation</a>, but most GNU software comes from many
+ <a href="/people/people.html">volunteers</a>. (Some of these
+ volunteers are paid by companies or universities, but they are
+ volunteers for us.) Some contributed software is copyrighted
+ by the Free Software Foundation; some is copyrighted by the
+ contributors who wrote it.</p>
<h3 id="non-freeSoftware">Non-free software</h3>
- <p>Non-free software is any software that is not free. This
- includes <a href="#semi-freeSoftware">semi-free software</a>
- and
- <a href="#ProprietarySoftware">proprietary software</a>.</p>
-
-<h3 id="semi-freeSoftware">Semi-free software</h3>
-
- <p>Semi-free software is software that is not free, but comes
- with permission for individuals to use, copy, distribute, and
- modify (including distribution of modified versions) for
- non-profit purposes. PGP is an example of a semi-free
- program.</p>
-
- <p>Semi-free software is much better ethically than <a href=
- "#ProprietarySoftware">proprietary software</a>, but it still
- poses problems, and we cannot use it in a free operating
- system.</p>
-
- <p>The restrictions of copyleft are designed to protect the
- essential freedoms for all users. For us, the only justification
- for any substantive restriction on using a program is to prevent
- other people from adding other restrictions. Semi-free programs
- have additional restrictions, motivated by purely selfish
- goals.</p>
-
- <p>It is impossible to include semi-free software in a free
- operating system. This is because the distribution terms for
- the operating system as a whole are the conjunction of the
- distribution terms for all the programs in it. Adding one
- semi-free program to the system would make the system <em>as a
- whole</em> just semi-free. There are two reasons we do not
- want that to happen:</p>
-
- <ul>
- <li>We believe that free software should be for
- everyone—including businesses, not just schools and
- hobbyists. We want to invite business to use the whole GNU
- system, and therefore we must not include a semi-free program
- in it.</li>
-
- <li>Commercial distribution of free operating systems, including
- the <a href="/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux system</a>, is very
- important, and users appreciate the convenience of commercial
- CD-ROM distributions. Including one semi-free program in an
- operating system would cut off commercial CD-ROM distribution for
- it.</li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>The <a href="http://www.fsf.org/";>Free Software
- Foundation</a> itself is non-commercial, and therefore we
- would be legally permitted to use a semi-free program
- “internally”. But we don't do that, because that
- would undermine our efforts to obtain a program which we could
- also include in GNU.</p>
-
- <p>If there is a job that needs doing with software, then
- until we have a free program to do the job, the GNU system has
- a gap. We have to tell volunteers, “We don't have a
- program yet to do this job in GNU, so we hope you will write
- one.” If we ourselves used a semi-free program to do the
- job, that would undermine what we say; it would take away the
- impetus (on us, and on others who might listen to our views)
- to write a free replacement. So we don't do that.</p>
-
-<h3 id="ProprietarySoftware">Proprietary
- software</h3>
-
- <p>Proprietary software is software that is not free or
- semi-free. Its use, redistribution or modification is
- prohibited, or requires you to ask for permission, or is
- restricted so much that you effectively can't do it freely.</p>
+ <p>Non-free software is any software that is not free.
+ Its use, redistribution or modification is prohibited, or
+ requires you to ask for permission, or is restricted so much
+ that you effectively can't do it freely.</p>
+
+<h3 id="ProprietarySoftware">Proprietary software</h3>
+
+ <p>Proprietary software is another name for non-free software.
+ In the past we subdivided non-free software into
+ “semi-free software”, which could be modified and
+ redistributed noncommercially, and “ proprietary
+ software”, which could not be. But we have dropped that
+ distinction and now use “proprietary software” as
+ synonymous with non-free software.</p>
<p>The Free Software Foundation follows the rule that we cannot
install any proprietary program on our computers except temporarily
@@ -345,13 +289,13 @@
<p>For example, we felt justified in installing Unix on our
computer in the 1980s, because we were using it to write a free
replacement for Unix. Nowadays, since free operating systems are
- available, the excuse is no longer applicable; we have eliminated
- all our non-free operating systems, and any new computer we install
+ available, the excuse is no longer applicable; we do not use any
+ non-free operating systems, and any new computer we install
must run a completely free operating system.</p>
<p>We don't insist that users of GNU, or contributors to GNU, have
to live by this rule. It is a rule we made for ourselves. But we
- hope you will decide to follow it too.</p>
+ hope you will follow it too, for your freedom's sake.</p>
<h3 id="freeware">Freeware</h3>
@@ -467,7 +411,7 @@
<p>
Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2009/11/11 08:42:41 $
+$Date: 2010/02/15 03:18:25 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
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