www/philosophy categories.html

[Richard M. Stallman]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Richard M. Stallman <rms>       12/09/20 12:44:38

Modified files:
        philosophy     : categories.html 

Log message:
        (Private Software): Clarify.
        (Commercial software): Clarify.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/categories.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.77&r2=1.78

Patches:
Index: categories.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/categories.html,v
retrieving revision 1.77
retrieving revision 1.78
diff -u -b -r1.77 -r1.78
--- categories.html     10 Jun 2012 08:06:06 -0000      1.77
+++ categories.html     20 Sep 2012 12:39:18 -0000      1.78
@@ -344,11 +344,16 @@
        (typically an organization or company). That user keeps it and uses
        it, and does not release it to the public either as source code or
        as binaries.</p>
-       <p>A private program is free software in a trivial sense if its
-       sole user has full rights to it.</p>
-       <p>In general we do not believe it is wrong to develop a program
+       <p>A private program is free software (in a somewhat trivial
+       sense) if its sole user has the four freedoms.  In particular,
+       if the user has full rights to the private program, the program is
+       free.  However, if the user distributes copies to others and does
+       not provide the four freedoms with those copies, those copies
+       are not free software.</p>
+       <p>Free software is not a matter of freedom, not access.
+       In general we do not believe it is wrong to develop a program
        and not release it. There are occasions when a program is so useful
-       that withholding it from release is treating humanity badly.
+       that withholding it from release is doing wrong to humanity.
        However, most programs are not that important, so not releasing them
        is not particularly harmful. Thus, there is no conflict between the
        development of private or custom software and the principles of the
@@ -359,11 +364,9 @@
 
 <h3 id="commercialSoftware">Commercial software</h3>
 
-       <p>Commercial software is software being developed by a
-       business which aims to make money from the use of the
-       software. &ldquo;Commercial&rdquo; and
-       &ldquo;proprietary&rdquo; are not the same thing! Most
-       commercial software
+       <p> &ldquo;Commercial&rdquo; and &ldquo;proprietary&rdquo; are
+       not the same!  Commercial software is software developed by a
+       business as part of its business. Most commercial software
        is <a href="#ProprietarySoftware">proprietary</a>, but there
        is commercial free software, and there is noncommercial
        nonfree software.</p>
@@ -376,8 +379,8 @@
        compiler.&rdquo; The salesmen reply, &ldquo;GNU
        Ada <em>is</em> a commercial compiler; it happens to be free
        software.&rdquo;</p>
-       <p>For the GNU Project, the emphasis is in the other order:
-       the important thing is that GNU Ada is free software; whether
+       <p>For the GNU Project, the proprities are in the other order:
+       the important thing is that GNU Ada is free software; that
        it is commercial is just a detail. However, the additional
        development of GNU Ada that results from its being commercial
        is definitely beneficial.</p>
@@ -424,7 +427,7 @@
 <p>
 Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2012/06/10 08:06:06 $
+$Date: 2012/09/20 12:39:18 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>