Richard Stallman
04/18/2017 (Tue) 09:21:35
[Preview]
No.
58
del
>>56>freeSoftware Freedoms
"Free software" refers to freedom, not price. It means that the user has four essential freedoms:
Freedom 0 is the freedom to run the program as you wish.
Freedom 1 is the freedom to study the source code and change it to do what you wish
Freedom 2 is the freedom to help your neighbour. That's the freedom to make copies and distribute them to others: to give them away or sell them.
Freedom 3 is the freedom to help your community. That's the freedom to distribute modified versions, so that everybody can benefit from your contribution.
With all 4 of these essential freedoms, a program is a free software. That means that it is distributed in an ethical way, a way that respects everyone's freedom.
Then idea of a free software movement is that every software user should always have these freedom; no one should ever take these freedoms away from you.
The software you are describing as "free" is in fact nonfree software (proprietary software). This software can take control of its users.