Building on the Italian site of the project GNU / Linux, I want to examine a topic that many Internet users know in an indirect and often ambiguous. In particular I am referring to free resources and tools available on the Web. Many people think that the tools and programs can be downloaded free from various web sites are "free" because you do not have to pay any amount to their creators (or to put it to Stallman "authors," they are not!) Or to firms distribution. All this is, instead, to undermine the true meaning of the word "free" because the term "free software" means software that opposes, ethically and socially, the oppression and control of the "proprietary software" ie the software that allows users to access and modify the program through its source code and can not know what really makes the program running. Free software (I suggest the adjective Liberating ) is defined as such only if it respects the same time, the four fundamental freedoms that are Freedom 0 = freedom to run the program for any purpose.
1 Freedom = freedom to study the program and modify it at will through the accesss and modifying the source code.
Freedom 2 = Freedom to distribute the program to help others.
Freedom 3 = freedom to improve the program and distribute the very best, so that the whole community benefits. Attention is then focused on the concept of freedom / deprivation. Proprietary software is defined as software Private because deprives the user of these freedoms described above. But there is also another conceptual difference that has arisen within the movement for the distribution of free software, ie the difference between Software Open Source and Free Software. The difference here is technical and philosophical. Open Source refers to software that allows access to source code and meet the licensing of ' OSI (Open Source Initiative ). But these licenses, potentially, may vary and limit the degree of user freedom. Free software instead of outright grants 'freedom, thanks to the continued fulfillment of the four freedoms described in the GNU GPL (GNU General Public License ). In addition to these short but important conditions, there is a theme that Stallman himself facing a clear and simple: it is right to charge for free software? According to the guru Stallman. In English with the adjective "free" means something is free (ie free message / free message to be clear ... that the answering machine) is something that is free, enjoying freedom (eg Is this seat free? / is free, right?). Free software is not free, but essentially just means "free from proprietary control." Book now because the software can be sold ? The free software can be "released in return for payment" because in this way helps the community for the dissemination and development of SL to raise money. Proprietary software can also be sold at low prices but this does not make it free software. And even if the price of free software is almost as high as that of proprietary software, this does not correct and does not leave you at a disadvantage because his freedom is respected. As someone said, freedom is priceless ....
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