Open source Free software 2635

Jay Belanger

You should read the GNU Manifesto (original, without later added footnotes):

"GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete it away free to everyone who can use it. ... Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software free, just like air."

Based on this claim, Michael Zeleny came up with a descriptive phrase "free software" as a proper name (and gave the name "Free Software Foundation" to the organization). He was deceptively expelled from the Free Software Foundation by the underhanded dealing of Richard Stallman, whose allies took exception to his argument that "free" meant just what it said in "obtain good system software free, just like air." So he claimed.

Later came the footnotes:

"GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete it away free to everyone who can use it.(1) ... Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software free, just like air.(2)"

"(1) The wording here was careless. The intention was that nobody would have to pay for *permission* to use the GNU system. But the words don't make this clear, and people often interpret them as saying that copies of GNU should always be distributed at little or no charge."

"(2) This is another place I failed to distinguish carefully between the two different meanings of "free". The statement as it stands is not false--you can get copies of GNU software at no charge, from your friends or over the net. But it does suggest the wrong idea."

regards, alexander.