Category:Free software

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Category: free software — this category contains wikis or other subject matter on free (as in free speech or freedom; not as in price) software. The 'free software movement' was started by Richard M. Stallman and GNU in 1984, later the Free Software Foundation was founded.

'Free software', defined by four 'freedoms', is where the license gives everybody

• the freedom to run the program for any purpose – known as 'freedom 0';
• the freedom to study and modify the program – 'freedom 1'. Access to the source code is a precondition for this;
• the freedom to copy and redistribute the program so one can help his neighbor – 'freedom 2';
• the freedom to improve the program, and release the improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits – 'freedom 3'; access to the source code is a precondition for this.

The opposite of this would be non-free software; this is best described as 'proprietary software' (or sometimes known as 'commercial software'). It should also be noted free software should not be confused with 'freeware'; which is simply proprietary software given away for free (as in free beer).

Related categories

GNU, Linux, Creative Commons.