{"id":23,"date":"2014-12-04T22:59:44","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T22:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/chapter\/what-is-free-software\/"},"modified":"2019-11-06T21:33:16","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T21:33:16","slug":"what-is-free-software","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/chapter\/what-is-free-software\/","title":{"raw":"Richard Stallman, “What is Free Software?”","rendered":"Richard Stallman, “What is Free Software?”"},"content":{"raw":"Read\u00a0the article at\u00a0https:\/\/www.gnu.org\/philosophy\/free-sw.html<\/a>\n\nBackground<\/strong>\n\nThe term open education refers to the application of open source philosophies and practices in the field of education. \u00a0The open source movement and many of its philosophies can be traced back to, and grew out of, Richard Stallman\u2019s ideas about free software. \u00a0The concepts discussed in this reading are in many ways the germ from which open education would eventually evolve. \u00a0Stallman\u2019s explication\u00a0of the nature of free (\u201cfree as in speech\u201d not \u201cfree as in beer\u201d) has heavily influenced definitions of open (open as in accessible to reuse and remix, not open as in \u201cfree beer\u201d) as it is used in both the open source and open education communities.\n\nKey Points<\/strong>\n\nFree Software is focused on liberty, not price. \u00a0Users are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change, and improve free\u00a0software. \u00a0Thus, \u201cfree software\u201d is a matter of liberty, not price.\n\nAn \u201cunfree\u201d program constitutes an instrument of unjust power. \u00a0Either the users control the program (free), or the program controls the users (unfree) while the developer controls the program.\n\nThere are four essential freedoms of free software:\n0.The freedom to run the program as they want to, for any purpose.\n1.The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does what you want. Must have access to the source code.\n2.The freedom to redistribute \u2013 to help your neighbor.\n3.The freedom to redistribute copies of modified versions. By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.\n\nWhen users don't control the program, Stallman\u00a0calls it a \u201cnon-free\u201d or \u201cproprietary\u201d program.\n\nDiscussion Questions<\/strong>\n
    \n\t
  1. What about people without the interest\/prowess to contribute to free software? \u00a0Are they being unjustly acted upon?<\/li>\n\t
  2. Why is a non-free program necessarily \u201can instrument of unjust power\u201d?<\/li>\n\t
  3. What is inherently \u201cunethical\u201d about non-free software? If someone wants to make money from their efforts in writing software,\u00a0is that wrong?<\/li>\n\t
  4. Does teaching your children computer skills, such as photo editing, using\u00a0non-free software create an unhealthy dependency (like giving them tobacco might)?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nAdditional\u00a0Resources<\/strong>","rendered":"

    Read\u00a0the article at\u00a0https:\/\/www.gnu.org\/philosophy\/free-sw.html<\/a><\/p>\n

    Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The term open education refers to the application of open source philosophies and practices in the field of education. \u00a0The open source movement and many of its philosophies can be traced back to, and grew out of, Richard Stallman\u2019s ideas about free software. \u00a0The concepts discussed in this reading are in many ways the germ from which open education would eventually evolve. \u00a0Stallman\u2019s explication\u00a0of the nature of free (\u201cfree as in speech\u201d not \u201cfree as in beer\u201d) has heavily influenced definitions of open (open as in accessible to reuse and remix, not open as in \u201cfree beer\u201d) as it is used in both the open source and open education communities.<\/p>\n

    Key Points<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Free Software is focused on liberty, not price. \u00a0Users are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change, and improve free\u00a0software. \u00a0Thus, \u201cfree software\u201d is a matter of liberty, not price.<\/p>\n

    An \u201cunfree\u201d program constitutes an instrument of unjust power. \u00a0Either the users control the program (free), or the program controls the users (unfree) while the developer controls the program.<\/p>\n

    There are four essential freedoms of free software:
    \n0.The freedom to run the program as they want to, for any purpose.
    \n1.The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does what you want. Must have access to the source code.
    \n2.The freedom to redistribute \u2013 to help your neighbor.
    \n3.The freedom to redistribute copies of modified versions. By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.<\/p>\n

    When users don’t control the program, Stallman\u00a0calls it a \u201cnon-free\u201d or \u201cproprietary\u201d program.<\/p>\n

    Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. What about people without the interest\/prowess to contribute to free software? \u00a0Are they being unjustly acted upon?<\/li>\n
    2. Why is a non-free program necessarily \u201can instrument of unjust power\u201d?<\/li>\n
    3. What is inherently \u201cunethical\u201d about non-free software? If someone wants to make money from their efforts in writing software,\u00a0is that wrong?<\/li>\n
    4. Does teaching your children computer skills, such as photo editing, using\u00a0non-free software create an unhealthy dependency (like giving them tobacco might)?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Additional\u00a0Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-23","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":22,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24,"href":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/23\/revisions\/24"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/22"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/23\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrations.pressbooks.network\/openedreader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}