Information about Free Software Movement
The free software movement is a new social movement which aims to protect the rights of users to access and modify software. Although drawing on traditions and philosophies among members of the 1970s hacker culture, Richard Stallman is widely credited with launching the movement in 1983 by founding the GNU Project.[1]
The free software philosophy at the core of the movement drew on core and incidental elements of what was called hacker culture by many computer users in the 70s, among other sources.
Members of the free software movement believe that all users of software should have the freedoms listed in the free software definition. Many hold that it is immoral to prohibit or prevent people from exercising these freedoms and that these freedoms are required to create a decent society where software users can help each other, and to have control over their computers.[4]
Some adherents to the free software movement do not believe that proprietary software is strictly immoral.[5] They argue freedom is valuable (both socially and pragmatically) as a property of software in its own right, separate from technical quality in a narrow sense.
The free software movement also believes all software needs free documentation, but does not take a strong position on other types of works.[6] Members of the free software movement advocate works that serve a practical purpose should also be free.
The free software movement also rejects proprietary software, refusing to install software that does not give them the freedoms of free software. According to Stallman, "The only thing in the software field that is worse than an unauthorised copy of a proprietary program, is an authorised copy of the proprietary program because this does the same harm to its whole community of users, and in addition, usually the developer, the perpetrator of this evil, profits from it."[7]
Some supporters of the free software movement take up public speaking, or host a stall at software-related conferences to raise awareness of software freedom. This is seen as important since people who receive free software, but who aren't aware that it is free software, will later accept a non-free replacement or will add software which is not free software. [8]
Venezuelan government, implemented a free software law in January 2006. Decree No. 3,390 mandated all government agencies to migrate to free software over a two-year period.[9]
Congressmen Dr Edgar David Villanueva and Jacques Rodrich Ackerman have been instrumental in introducing in Republic of Peru bill 1609 on "Free Software in Public Administration".[10]
The incident immediately invited the attention of Microsoft Inc, Peru, whose General Manager wrote a letter to Dr Edgar David Villanueva. Dr Edgar's response received worldwide attention and is still seen as a classical piece of argumentation favouring use of Free Software in Governments.[11]
OSI advocates free software (under the name "open-source software") on the basis that it is a superior model for software development rather than it being a social or ethical issue.[13]
Others see the current progress as a success and argue that the bigger worry for the free software movement is that unnecessary compromise is being made and could make the goal harder to reach.[15]
Ohloh, a web service founded in 2004 and launched in 2006, monitors the development activity in the free software community, providing detailed metrics and quantitative analyses on the growth and popularity of projects and programming languages.
Bruce Perens video
Information Society 2005 in Tunis speaking on:
"Is Free/Open Source Software the Answer?"
(Richard Stallman is on Bruce's right.
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The free software community
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The free software philosophy at the core of the movement drew on core and incidental elements of what was called hacker culture by many computer users in the 70s, among other sources.
Philosophy
Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation in 1985 to support the movement. The philosophy of the movement is to give freedom to computer users by replacing proprietary software under restrictive licensing terms with free software,[2] with the ultimate goal of liberating everyone in cyberspace.[3]Members of the free software movement believe that all users of software should have the freedoms listed in the free software definition. Many hold that it is immoral to prohibit or prevent people from exercising these freedoms and that these freedoms are required to create a decent society where software users can help each other, and to have control over their computers.[4]
Some adherents to the free software movement do not believe that proprietary software is strictly immoral.[5] They argue freedom is valuable (both socially and pragmatically) as a property of software in its own right, separate from technical quality in a narrow sense.
The free software movement also believes all software needs free documentation, but does not take a strong position on other types of works.[6] Members of the free software movement advocate works that serve a practical purpose should also be free.
Actions
Writing and spreading free software
The initial work of the free software movement focussed on software development.The free software movement also rejects proprietary software, refusing to install software that does not give them the freedoms of free software. According to Stallman, "The only thing in the software field that is worse than an unauthorised copy of a proprietary program, is an authorised copy of the proprietary program because this does the same harm to its whole community of users, and in addition, usually the developer, the perpetrator of this evil, profits from it."[7]
Building awareness
)
Some supporters of the free software movement take up public speaking, or host a stall at software-related conferences to raise awareness of software freedom. This is seen as important since people who receive free software, but who aren't aware that it is free software, will later accept a non-free replacement or will add software which is not free software. [8]
Legislation
Political acts include campaigning against software patents and expansions of copyright law.Venezuelan government, implemented a free software law in January 2006. Decree No. 3,390 mandated all government agencies to migrate to free software over a two-year period.[9]
Congressmen Dr Edgar David Villanueva and Jacques Rodrich Ackerman have been instrumental in introducing in Republic of Peru bill 1609 on "Free Software in Public Administration".[10]
The incident immediately invited the attention of Microsoft Inc, Peru, whose General Manager wrote a letter to Dr Edgar David Villanueva. Dr Edgar's response received worldwide attention and is still seen as a classical piece of argumentation favouring use of Free Software in Governments.[11]
Internal conflict
Like many social movements, the free software movement has ongoing internal conflict between personalities and between supporters of compromise versus strict adherence to values.Open source
In 1998, some companies met to create a marketing campaign for free software which would focus on technology rather than ethics. After this Eric Raymond and Bruce Perens, founded Open Source Initiative OSI, which promotes the term "open-source software" as an alternative term for free software. OSI does not agree with the free software movement's position that non-free software is a social problem or that it is unethical.[12]OSI advocates free software (under the name "open-source software") on the basis that it is a superior model for software development rather than it being a social or ethical issue.[13]
Stallman and Torvalds
The two most prominent people attached to the movement, Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds, have deep philosophical differences. This has fueled many dramatic news articles, but has not prevented Stallman from using Torvalds's kernel or Torvalds from using Stallman's GNU General Public License.Measures of progress
Some, such as Eric Raymond, criticise the speed at which the free software movement is progressing, suggesting that compromises should be made for short-term gains could increase the leverage the free software movement would have for further gains.[14]Others see the current progress as a success and argue that the bigger worry for the free software movement is that unnecessary compromise is being made and could make the goal harder to reach.[15]
Ohloh, a web service founded in 2004 and launched in 2006, monitors the development activity in the free software community, providing detailed metrics and quantitative analyses on the growth and popularity of projects and programming languages.
See also
- Free Software Foundation
- Hacker culture
- Open Source Initiative
- GNU Manifesto
- Free Culture Movement
- Free software community
- GNU/Linux adoption
External links
- What is Free Software? - Essay by Karl Fogel.
- The Free Software Movement and the Future of Freedom, a lecture by Richard Stallman
- Free Software Movement intro by FSF
- The GNU Project Philosophy Directory, containing many defining documents of the free software movement
- An interview with Stallman, "Free Software as a social movement"
- Christian Imhorst, Anarchy and Source Code - What does the Free Software Movement have to do with Anarchism?, (licence: GFDL), 2005
- (Spanish), Free software in public administration, from Spanish Wikipedia
- An anti-DRM campaign - by Bill Xu and Richard Stallman
- GNUCHILE Foundation
References
1. ^ [1] | Announcement of the GNU project].
2. ^ | Use Free Software. gnu.org.
3. ^ Stallman interviewed by Sean Daly. Groklaw (2006-06-23 |).
4. ^ Why free software?. gnu.org |.
5. ^ | Copyleft: Pragmatic Idealism. gnu.org.
6. ^ Free Software and Free Manuals. gnu.org |.
7. ^ [2] |publisher=FSFE | Transcript of Stallman on Free Software] (2006-03-09).
8. ^ Transcript of Stallman speaking at WSIS. Ciaran O'Riordan |.
9. ^ Free software liberates Venezuela. Free Software Magazine n°10 (2006-02-08 |).
10. ^ .
11. ^ Peruvian Congressmean Edgar Villanueva writing to Microsoft about free software.|.
12. ^ [3]
13. ^ Open Source misses the point |. gnu.org.
14. ^ ESR's "World Domination 201", on the need for more compromise by the free software movement |.
15. ^ RMS on the progress of the movement and his worry about compromise |.
2. ^ | Use Free Software. gnu.org.
3. ^ Stallman interviewed by Sean Daly. Groklaw (2006-06-23 |).
4. ^ Why free software?. gnu.org |.
5. ^ | Copyleft: Pragmatic Idealism. gnu.org.
6. ^ Free Software and Free Manuals. gnu.org |.
7. ^ [2] |publisher=FSFE | Transcript of Stallman on Free Software] (2006-03-09).
8. ^ Transcript of Stallman speaking at WSIS. Ciaran O'Riordan |.
9. ^ Free software liberates Venezuela. Free Software Magazine n°10 (2006-02-08 |).
10. ^ .
11. ^ Peruvian Congressmean Edgar Villanueva writing to Microsoft about free software.|.
12. ^ [3]
13. ^ Open Source misses the point |. gnu.org.
14. ^ ESR's "World Domination 201", on the need for more compromise by the free software movement |.
15. ^ RMS on the progress of the movement and his worry about compromise |.
The term new social movements (NSM) refers to a plethora of social movements that have come up in various western societies roughly since the mid-1960s (i.e. in a post-industrial economy) which depart significantly from the conventional social movement paradigm.
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hacker is a person who follows a spirit of playful cleverness and enjoys programming. The context of academic hackers forms a voluntary subculture termed the academic hacking culture.
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Richard Matthew Stallman (born March 16, 1953), often abbreviated "rms",[1] is a software freedom activist, hacker,[2] and software developer. In September 1983, he launched the GNU Project[3]
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The GNU Project is a free software, mass collaboration project, announced in 1983 by Richard Stallman. It initiated the GNU operating system, software development for which began in January 1984. GNU is a recursive acronym that stands for "GNU's Not Unix".
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hacker is a person who follows a spirit of playful cleverness and enjoys programming. The context of academic hackers forms a voluntary subculture termed the academic hacking culture.
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The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a non-profit corporation founded on October 4, 1985 [1] by Richard Stallman to support the free software movement ("free" as in "freedom"), and in particular the GNU Project.
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Proprietary software (also called non-free software or closed-source software) is software with restrictions on using, copying and modifying as enforced by the proprietor.
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Computer software is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, procedures and documentation that perform some task on a computer system. [1]
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Free software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions only to ensure that further recipients can also do these things.
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The Free Software Definition is a definition published by Free Software Foundation (FSF) for what constitutes free software. The earliest known publication of the definition was in the February 1986 edition[1] of the now-discontinued GNU's Bulletin publication of FSF.
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Morality (from the Latin moralitas "manner, character, proper behaviour") has three principal meanings. In its first descriptive usage, morality means a code of conduct held to be authoritative in matters of right and wrong,
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Proprietary software (also called non-free software or closed-source software) is software with restrictions on using, copying and modifying as enforced by the proprietor.
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In general terms, documentation is any communicable material (such as text, video, audio, etc., or combinations thereof) used to explain some attributes of an object, system or procedure.
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Public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners. The art and science of public speaking, especially in a North American competitive environment, is also known as
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Software patent does not have a universally accepted definition.[1] One definition suggested by the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure is that a software patent is a "patent on any performance of a computer realised by means of a computer program".
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Motto
[2]
Anthem
Gloria al Bravo Pueblo (Spanish)
"Glory to the Brave People"
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[2]
Anthem
Gloria al Bravo Pueblo (Spanish)
"Glory to the Brave People"
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Dr Edgar David Villanueva Núñez is a politician and congressman in the Republic of Peru. He is best known for introducing a bill to mandate use of free software in public agencies.
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Eric Steven Raymond (born December 4, 1957), often referred to as ESR, is a computer programmer, author and open source software advocate. His reputation within the hacker culture was established when he became the maintainer of the "Jargon File".
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Information Society 2005 in Tunis speaking on:
"Is Free/Open Source Software the Answer?"
(Richard Stallman is on Bruce's right.
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The B>Open Source Initiative is an organization dedicated to promoting open-source software.
The organization was founded in February 1998 by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond when Netscape Communications Corporation, published the source code for its flagship Netscape
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The organization was founded in February 1998 by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond when Netscape Communications Corporation, published the source code for its flagship Netscape
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Open source software is computer software which source code is available under a license (or arrangement such as the public domain) that meets the Open source definition. This permits users to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified
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From the early 90s onward, alternative terms for free software have come into common use, with much debate in the free software community. The term "free software" was coined by Richard Stallman in 1983 when he launched the free software movement.
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Richard Matthew Stallman (born March 16, 1953), often abbreviated "rms",[1] is a software freedom activist, hacker,[2] and software developer. In September 1983, he launched the GNU Project[3]
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Linus Benedict Torvalds (born December 28 1969 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish software engineer best known for initiating the development of the Linux kernel.
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Linux kernel is a Unix-like operating system kernel. It is the namesake of the Linux family of operating systems. Released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and developed by contributors worldwide, Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source
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GNU General Public License
Author: Free Software Foundation
Version: 3
Copyright on the license: Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Publication date: 29 June 2007
OSI approved: Yes
Debian approved: Yes
Free Software:
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Author: Free Software Foundation
Version: 3
Copyright on the license: Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Publication date: 29 June 2007
OSI approved: Yes
Debian approved: Yes
Free Software:
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Eric Steven Raymond (born December 4, 1957), often referred to as ESR, is a computer programmer, author and open source software advocate. His reputation within the hacker culture was established when he became the maintainer of the "Jargon File".
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Ohloh is a website, web services suite and online community platform whose goal is to map the landscape of open source software development. It was founded by former Microsoft managers Jason Allen and Scott Collison in 2004 and joined by the developer Robin Luckey.
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The W3C defines a Web service (many sources also capitalize the second word, as in Web Services) as "a software system designed to support interoperable Machine to Machine interaction over a network.
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The free software community
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