Free software movement
Encyclopedia
The free software movement is a social
and political movement
with the goal of ensuring software users' four basic freedoms: the freedom to run their software, to study and change their software, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. The alternative terms
"software libre", "open source", and "FOSS" are associated with the free software movement. Although drawing on traditions and philosophies among members of the 1970s hacker culture, Richard Stallman
founded and launched the movement in 1983 by founding the GNU Project
.
The free software philosophy at the core of the movement drew on the essence and incidental elements of what was called hacker culture by many computer users in the 1970s, among other sources.
Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation
in 1985 to support the movement.
under restrictive licensing terms with free software
, with the ultimate goal of liberating everyone "in cyberspace" – that is, every computer user. Stallman notes that this action will promote rather than hinder the progression of technology, since "it means that much wasteful duplication of system programming effort will be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the state of the art".
Members of the free software movement believe that all users of software should have the freedoms listed in the free software definition. Many of them 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.
Some adherents to the free software movement do not believe that proprietary software
is strictly immoral. 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 Foundation also believes all software needs free documentation
(in particular because conscientious programmers should be able to update manuals to reflect modification that they made to the software), but deems the freedom to modify less important for other types of written works. Within the free software movement, the Floss manuals
foundation specializes on the goal of providing such documentation. Members of the free software movement advocate that works which serve a practical purpose should also be free.
, 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 are not aware that it is free software, will later accept a non-free replacement or will add software which is not free software.
s and expansions of copyright law.
The Venezuela
n 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.
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". The incident immediately invited the attention of Microsoft Inc, Peru, whose General Manager wrote a letter to Dr Edgar David Villanueva. Dr Villanueva's response received worldwide attention and is still seen as a classical piece of argumentation favouring use of Free Software in Governments.
In the USA, there have been efforts to pass legislation at the state level encouraging use of free software by state government agencies.
founded the Open Source Initiative
(OSI), to promote the term "open-source software
" as an alternative term for free software. OSI did not agree with the free software movement's position that non-free software is a social problem or that it is unethical, arguing instead that it is a superior model for software development.
By 2005, Richard Glass considered the differences to be a "serious fracture" but "vitally important to those on both sides of the fracture" and "of little importance to anyone else studying the movement from a software engineering perspective" since they have had "little effect on the field".
Some free software advocates use the term Free and Open Source Software
(FOSS) as an inclusive compromise, drawing on both philosophies to bring both free software advocates and open source software advocates together to work on projects with more cohesion. Some users believe that a compromise term encompassing both aspects is ideal, to promote both the user's freedom with the software and also to promote the perceived superiority of an open source development model.
and Linus Torvalds
, may be seen as representatives of the value based versus apolitical philosophies, as well as the Gnu versus Linux coding styles. Paradoxically as it seems, it is the symbiosis
of their works that make up a complete operating system
known as GNU/Linux, or just Linux.
, 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 language
s.
In January 2010, Global Graphics
completed a survey http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/applications/news/index.cfm?newsid=18518 with 400 Chief Information Officers from organisations with over 1000 employees across the US and the UK that showed three quarters (76 per cent) of large organisations use free software across the enterprise with over half (51 per cent) planning to deploy more free software in 2010.
Others, such as Richard Stallman, see the current level of compromise to be the bigger worry.
Social movement
Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
and political movement
Political movement
A political movement is a social movement in the area of politics. A political movement may be organized around a single issue or set of issues, or around a set of shared concerns of a social group...
with the goal of ensuring software users' four basic freedoms: the freedom to run their software, to study and change their software, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. The alternative terms
Alternative terms for free software
Alternative terms for free software have been a controversial issue among free software users from the late 1990s onwards. Coined in 1983 by Richard Stallman, "free software" is used to describe software which can be used, modified, and redistributed with little or no restriction...
"software libre", "open source", and "FOSS" are associated with the free software movement. Although drawing on traditions and philosophies among members of the 1970s hacker culture, Richard Stallman
Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman , often shortened to rms,"'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman|first= Richard|date= N.D.|work=Richard Stallman's homepage...
founded and launched the movement in 1983 by founding the GNU Project
GNU Project
The GNU Project is a free software, mass collaboration project, announced on September 27, 1983, by Richard Stallman at MIT. It initiated GNU operating system development in January, 1984...
.
The free software philosophy at the core of the movement drew on the essence and incidental elements of what was called hacker culture by many computer users in the 1970s, among other sources.
Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
in 1985 to support the movement.
Philosophy
The philosophy of the movement is to give freedom to computer users by replacing proprietary softwareProprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
under restrictive licensing terms with free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre 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 that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
, with the ultimate goal of liberating everyone "in cyberspace" – that is, every computer user. Stallman notes that this action will promote rather than hinder the progression of technology, since "it means that much wasteful duplication of system programming effort will be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the state of the art".
Members of the free software movement believe that all users of software should have the freedoms listed in the free software definition. Many of them hold that it is immoral
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
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.
Some adherents to the free software movement do not believe that proprietary software
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
is strictly immoral. 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 Foundation also believes all software needs free documentation
Documentation
Documentation is a term used in several different ways. Generally, documentation refers to the process of providing evidence.Modules of Documentation are Helpful...
(in particular because conscientious programmers should be able to update manuals to reflect modification that they made to the software), but deems the freedom to modify less important for other types of written works. Within the free software movement, the Floss manuals
Floss manuals
The FLOSS Manuals is a non-profit foundation founded in 2006 and based in the Netherlands. The foundation is focused on the creation of quality documentation about how to use free software....
foundation specializes on the goal of providing such documentation. Members of the free software movement advocate that works which serve a practical purpose should also be free.
Writing and spreading free software
The core work of the free software movement focused 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."Building awareness
Some supporters of the free software movement take up public speakingPublic speaking
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...
, 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 are not aware that it is free software, will later accept a non-free replacement or will add software which is not free software.
Legislation
A lot of lobbying work has been done against software patentSoftware patent
Software patent does not have a universally accepted definition. 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".In 2005, the European Patent Office...
s and expansions of copyright law.
The Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n 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.
Congressmen Dr Edgar David Villanueva
Edgar David Villanueva
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...
and Jacques Rodrich Ackerman have been instrumental in introducing in Republic of Peru bill 1609 on "Free Software in Public Administration". The incident immediately invited the attention of Microsoft Inc, Peru, whose General Manager wrote a letter to Dr Edgar David Villanueva. Dr Villanueva's response received worldwide attention and is still seen as a classical piece of argumentation favouring use of Free Software in Governments.
In the USA, there have been efforts to pass legislation at the state level encouraging use of free software by state government agencies.
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 PerensBruce Perens
Bruce Perens is a computer programmer and advocate in the open source community. He created the Open Source Definition and published the first formal announcement and manifesto of open source. He co-founded the Open Source Initiative with Eric S...
founded the Open Source Initiative
Open Source Initiative
The 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, prompted by Netscape Communications Corporation publishing the source code for its flagship Netscape Communicator product...
(OSI), to promote the term "open-source software
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
" as an alternative term for free software. OSI did not agree with the free software movement's position that non-free software is a social problem or that it is unethical, arguing instead that it is a superior model for software development.
By 2005, Richard Glass considered the differences to be a "serious fracture" but "vitally important to those on both sides of the fracture" and "of little importance to anyone else studying the movement from a software engineering perspective" since they have had "little effect on the field".
Some free software advocates use the term Free and Open Source Software
Free and open source software
Free and open-source software or free/libre/open-source software is software that is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code...
(FOSS) as an inclusive compromise, drawing on both philosophies to bring both free software advocates and open source software advocates together to work on projects with more cohesion. Some users believe that a compromise term encompassing both aspects is ideal, to promote both the user's freedom with the software and also to promote the perceived superiority of an open source development model.
Stallman and Torvalds
The two most prominent people attached to the movement, Richard StallmanRichard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman , often shortened to rms,"'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman|first= Richard|date= N.D.|work=Richard Stallman's homepage...
and Linus Torvalds
Linus Torvalds
Linus Benedict Torvalds is a Finnish software engineer and hacker, best known for having initiated the development of the open source Linux kernel. He later became the chief architect of the Linux kernel, and now acts as the project's coordinator...
, may be seen as representatives of the value based versus apolitical philosophies, as well as the Gnu versus Linux coding styles. Paradoxically as it seems, it is the symbiosis
Symbiosis
Symbiosis is close and often long-term interaction between different biological species. In 1877 Bennett used the word symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens...
of their works that make up a complete operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
known as GNU/Linux, or just Linux.
Measures of progress
OhlohOhloh
Ohloh is a website which provides a web services suite and online community platform that aims 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...
, a web service
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
founded in 2004 and launched in 2006, monitors the development activity in the free software community
Free software community
The free-software community is an informal term that refers to the users and developers of free software as well as supporters of the free-software movement. The movement is sometimes referred to as the open-source software community or a subset thereof...
, providing detailed metrics
Software metric
A software metric is a measure of some property of a piece of software or its specifications. Since quantitative measurements are essential in all sciences, there is a continuous effort by computer science practitioners and theoreticians to bring similar approaches to software development...
and quantitative analyses on the growth and popularity of projects and programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
s.
In January 2010, Global Graphics
Global Graphics
Global Graphics SA is a group of companies known for their digital printing products, including the Harlequin and Jaws RIPs. In May 2009 the company launched gDoc Fusion, an edocument builder software application designed for ease of use to create, review, edit, share and archive PDF and XPS...
completed a survey http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/applications/news/index.cfm?newsid=18518 with 400 Chief Information Officers from organisations with over 1000 employees across the US and the UK that showed three quarters (76 per cent) of large organisations use free software across the enterprise with over half (51 per cent) planning to deploy more free software in 2010.
Is something impeding progress?
Some, such as Eric Raymond, criticise the speed at which the free software movement is progressing, suggesting that temporary compromises should be made for long-term gains. Raymond argues that this could raise awareness of the software and thus increase the free software movement's influence on relevant standards and legislation.Others, such as Richard Stallman, see the current level of compromise to be the bigger worry.
Shouldn't a programmer deserve or ask for rewards for their creativity?
Stallman said that this is where people get the misconception of "free": there is no wrong in programmers' requesting rewards for their works. Restricting and controlling the user's decisions on use is the actual violation of freedom. Stallman defends that in some cases, monetary incentive is not necessary for motivation since the pleasure in expressing creativity is a reward in itself (such as music and art).See also
- Digital rights managementDigital rights managementDigital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
- Free Culture MovementFree Culture movementThe free culture movement is a social movement that promotes the freedom to distribute and modify creative works in the form of free content by using the Internet and other forms of media....
- Free software communityFree software communityThe free-software community is an informal term that refers to the users and developers of free software as well as supporters of the free-software movement. The movement is sometimes referred to as the open-source software community or a subset thereof...
- Free Software FoundationFree Software FoundationThe Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
- GNU ManifestoGNU ManifestoThe GNU Manifesto was written by Richard Stallman and published in March 1985 in Dr. Dobb's Journal of Software Tools as an explanation and definition of the goals of the GNU Project, and to call for participation and support. It is held in high regard within the free software movement as a...
- Linux adoptionLinux adoptionLinux adoption refers to new use of the Linux computer operating system by homes, organizations, companies, and governments, while Linux migration refers to the change from using other operating systems to using Linux....
- Open Source InitiativeOpen Source InitiativeThe 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, prompted by Netscape Communications Corporation publishing the source code for its flagship Netscape Communicator product...
- Open source governanceOpen source governanceOpen-source governance is a political philosophy which advocates the application of the philosophies of the open-source and open-content movements to democratic principles in order to enable any interested citizen to add to the creation of policy, as with a wiki document. Legislation is...
- Open source movementOpen source movementThe open source movement is a broad-reaching movement of individuals who feel that software should be produced altruistically. Open source software is made available for anybody to use or modify, as its source code is made available. The software use is subject only to the stipulation that any...
- Projects
- BadVistaBadVistaBadVista was a campaign by the Free Software Foundation to oppose adoption of Microsoft Windows Vista and promote free software alternatives. A follow-up to the Defective by Design campaign against digital rights management technologies, it aimed to encourage the media to make free software part of...
- Defective by DesignDefective by DesignDefective by Design is an anti-digital rights management initiative by the Free Software Foundation. DRM technology, dubbed "digital restrictions management" by opponents, restricts users’ ability to freely use their purchased movies, music, literature, software, and hardware in ways they are...
- BadVista
Further reading
- David M. Berry, Copy, Rip, Burn: The Politics of Copyleft and Open Source, Pluto Press, 2008, ISBN 0745324142
- Johan Soderberg, Hacking Capitalism: The Free and Open Source Software Movement, Routledge, 2007, ISBN 0415955432
External links
- What is Free Software? - Essay by Karl Fogel.
- The Free Software Movement and the Future of Freedom, a 2006 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?, (license: GFDL), 2005
- An anti-DRM campaign - by Bill Xu and Richard Stallman
- The Codebreakers - a freely redistributable movie
- Stallman's Free Software Song