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@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Though unknown to common people, the invention and adoption of free software has
**Is free software [communism](communism.md)?** This is a question often debated by [Americans](usa.md) who have a panic phobia of anything resembling ideas of sharing and giving away for free. The answer is: yes and no. No as in it's not [Marxism](marxism.md), the kind of [evil](evil.md) pseudocommunism that plagued the world not a long time long ago -- that was a hugely complex, twisted violent ideology encompassing whole society which furthermore betrayed many basic ideas of equality and so on. Compared to this free software is just a simple idea of not applying intellectual property to software, and this idea may well function under some form of early capitalism. But on the other hand yes, free software is communism in its general form that simply states that sharing is good, it is communism as much as e.g. teaching a kid to share toys with its siblings.
# Definition
## Definition
Free software was originally defined by [Richard Stallman](rms.md) for his [GNU](gnu.md) project. The definition was subsequently adopted and adjusted by other groups such as [Debian](debian.md) or [copyfree](copyfree.md) and so nowadays there isn't just one definition, even though the GNU definition is usually implicitly assumed. However, all of these definition are very similar and are quite often variations and subsets of the original one. The GNU definition of free software is paraphrased as follows:
@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ To make it clear, freedom 0 (use for any purpose) covers ANY use, even commercia
The developers of Debian operating system have created their own guidelines (Debian Free Software Guidelines) which respect these points but are worded in more complex terms and further require e.g. non-functional data to be available under free terms as well ([source](https://people.debian.org/~bap/dfsg-faq.html#not_just_code)), respecting also [free culture](free_culture.md), which GNU doesn't ([source](https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.en.html#non-functional-data)). The definition of "[open source](open_source.md)" is yet more complex even though in practice legally free software is eventually also open source and vice versa. The [copyfree](copyfree.md) definition tries to be a lot more strict about freedom and forbids for example [copyleft](copyleft.md) (which GNU promotes) and things such as [DRM](drm.md) clauses (i.e. a copyfree license mustn't impose technology restrictions, even those seen as "justified", for similar reasons why we don't prohibit any kind of use for example).
# History
## History
Free software was invented by [Richard Stallman](rms.md) in the 1980s. His free software movement inspired later movements such as the [free culture](free_culture.md) movement and the evil [open-source](open_source.md) movement.
@ -43,11 +43,11 @@ Free software was invented by [Richard Stallman](rms.md) in the 1980s. His free
**The "free software alternatives" question** is one that's constantly being discussed under [capitalism](capitalism.md): [corporations](corporation.md) try to forcefully keep users enslaved by proprietary software environments while free software proponents and users themselves want to free the users with "alternatives" made as free software. A very common mistake for a free software newcomer to make is to try to **"drop-in replace proprietary software with free software"**; a user used to proprietary software and its ways just wants the programs he's used to, just "without ads and subscriptions etc.". This doesn't work, or only to an extremely limited scale, because the whole proprietary world is made and DESIGNED from the ground up to allow user exploitation as much as possible, with e.g. building such thing like [consumerism](consumerism.md) right into the design of visual elements of the software etc., i.e. proprietary vs free software is not just about a legal [license](license.md), but whole philosophy of technology, asking things such as [why are we so obsessed over "updates"](update_culture.md) or [why are we freaking out about privacy](privacy.md). Trying to drop-in replace proprietary technology with 1 to 1 looking free software is like trying to replace whole capitalism with an "environment friendly capitalism" in which everything works the same except we have cars made of wood and skyscrapers made of recycled paper -- indeed, one sees that to get rid of the destructive nature of capitalism we really have to replace capitalism as such with all its basic concepts with something fundamentally different; and the situation is same with proprietary software.
For example most users nowadays want [GUI](gui.md) in all programs, which is how they've been nurtured by capitalism, however we have to realize that **a truly ([de facto](de_facto.md), not just legally) free software has to be [minimalist](minimalism.md)** and so most TRULY free software will mostly work only from the [command line](cli.md); a command line program is not necessarily harder or less comfortable to use (users are just nurtured to think so by capitalism), it is however inherently more free than a GUI one in all ways (not only by being more flexible, efficient, [portable](portable.md) and non-discrimination, but also simpler and therefore e.g. modifiable by more people). We have to realize that a **freedom respecting computing environment INHERENTLY LOOKS DIFFERENT from the proprietary one**, the matter is NOT only about the license (free license is just a necessary condition to allow freedom under capitalism, however it is not a sufficient condition for freedom). Some projects calling themselves "free" (or rather "[open source](open_source.md)") make the mistake (sometimes intentionally, exactly to e.g. more easily pull over more users from the proprietary land) of simply mimicking proprietary ways 1 to 1 -- see e.g. [Fediverse](fediverse.md) ("free" facebook/twitter/etc.), [Blender](blender.md) etc. -- these are technically/legally free, but not actually, de-facto free. While a short-sighted view tells us this wins more users from the proprietary platforms, in long term we see we are just rebuilding dystopias, only painted with brighter colors so as to make them look friendlier (and oftentimes this is exactly the aim of the authors). Transitioning to TRULY free platforms is harder -- **one has to relearn basic things** such as, as has been mentioned, working with command line rather than GUI -- but ultimately right as one really gets more freedom, however under capitalist pressure and nurturing it is a hard thing to do, requiring extorting a lot of energy to resist the pressures of society.
For example most users nowadays want [GUI](gui.md) in all programs, which is how they've been nurtured by capitalism, however we have to realize that **a truly ([de facto](de_facto.md), not just legally) free software has to be [minimalist](minimalism.md)** and so most TRULY free software will mostly work only from the [command line](cli.md); a command line program is not necessarily harder or less comfortable to use (users are just nurtured to think so by capitalism), it is however inherently more free than a GUI one in all ways (not only by being more flexible, efficient, [portable](portability.md) and non-discrimination, but also simpler and therefore e.g. modifiable by more people). We have to realize that a **freedom respecting computing environment INHERENTLY LOOKS DIFFERENT from the proprietary one**, the matter is NOT only about the license (free license is just a necessary condition to allow freedom under capitalism, however it is not a sufficient condition for freedom). Some projects calling themselves "free" (or rather "[open source](open_source.md)") make the mistake (sometimes intentionally, exactly to e.g. more easily pull over more users from the proprietary land) of simply mimicking proprietary ways 1 to 1 -- see e.g. [Fediverse](fediverse.md) ("free" facebook/twitter/etc.), [Blender](blender.md) etc. -- these are technically/legally free, but not actually, de-facto free. While a short-sighted view tells us this wins more users from the proprietary platforms, in long term we see we are just rebuilding dystopias, only painted with brighter colors so as to make them look friendlier (and oftentimes this is exactly the aim of the authors). Transitioning to TRULY free platforms is harder -- **one has to relearn basic things** such as, as has been mentioned, working with command line rather than GUI -- but ultimately right as one really gets more freedom, however under capitalist pressure and nurturing it is a hard thing to do, requiring extorting a lot of energy to resist the pressures of society.
After some years dealing with software freedom (in serious ways, making money doesn't count) many -- including [us](lrs.md) -- realize that the "licensing" fuzz and legal questions, though important, are the surface, shallow views of freedom; one that also gets exploited by many (see e.g. [openwashing](openwashing.md)). Those who seek real freedom will sooner or later find themselves focusing on [minimalism](minimalism.md) and simplicity, e.g. [LRS](lrs.md), [suckless](suckless.md), [Bitreich](bitreich.md) etc. Going yet further, one starts to see the inherent interconnections of technology and whole society, and has to become interested also in social concepts, hence our proposal of [less retarded society](less_retarded_society.md).
After some years dealing with software freedom (in serious ways, making money doesn't count) many -- including [us](lrs.md) -- realize that the "licensing" fuss and legal questions, though important, are the surface, shallow views of freedom; one that also gets exploited by many (see e.g. [openwashing](openwashing.md)). Those who seek real freedom will sooner or later find themselves focusing on [minimalism](minimalism.md) and simplicity, e.g. [LRS](lrs.md), [suckless](suckless.md), [Bitreich](bitreich.md) etc. Going yet further, one starts to see the inherent interconnections of technology and whole society, and has to become interested also in social concepts, hence our proposal of [less retarded society](less_retarded_society.md).
# See Also
## See Also
- [free hardware](free_hardware.md)
- [open source](open_source.md)