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Is that software really free? |
by:
Steve Blampied |
If you search'net for "Free Software" you'll alway come up with links toFree Software Foundation or something calledGNU, rather than software that doesn't cost anything.
You see, "Free Software" it doesn't always refer to software that is free of charge. It actually refers tosoftware being "Free" as in "Freedom" !
Just so that you understanddifference, here isdefinition of free software from GNU.org
"A program is free software, for you,particular user, if:
You havefreedom to runprogram, for any purpose.
You havefreedom to modifyprogram to suit your needs. (To make this freedom effective in practice, you must have access tosource code, since making changes inprogram without havingsource code is exceedingly difficult.)
You havefreedom to redistribute copies, either gratis or forfee.
You havefreedom to distribute modified versions ofprogram, so thatcommunity can benefit from your improvements.
Since "free" refers to freedom, not to price, there is no contradiction between selling copies and free software.
In fact,freedom to sell copies is crucial: collections of free software sold on CD-ROMs are important forcommunity, and selling them isimportant way to raise funds for free software development. Therefore,program which people are not free to include on these collections is not free software.
Because ofambiguity of "free", people have long looked for alternatives, but no one has foundsuitable alternative. The English Language has more words and nuances than any other, but it lackssimple, unambiguous, word that means "free," as in freedom--"unfettered," beingword that comes closest in meaning. Such alternatives as "liberated", "freedom," and "open" have eitherwrong meaning or some other disadvantage."
"Free Software" is often but not always free-of-charge but it does have other benefits. Oftensoftware is written by people who are doing it forchallenge or simply because they enjoy writing it, or to solveparticular problem, and this approach can produce really useful programs withoutusual commercial undercurrent.
Also becausesource code is normally freely available it is also likely that many people fromsoftware community will have hadhand increation or debugging offinished article.
More information andlarge quantity of Free Software is available from www.sourceforge.net
Aboutauthor:
Steve Blampied lives in Jersey inChannel Islands and has beenindependent IT consultant for around onezero years and hassmall IT company in Jersey.
http://www.technology.je
He is currently putting togetherweb site solely about free software.
http://www.freesoftwareadvice.com
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