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@ -54,17 +54,17 @@ Let's demonstrate it on a few examples:
## History
Precursors to free software may reach as far back in [history](history.md) as we are willing look. They may include for example ancient [mathematicians](math.md) sharing their equations with each other, people sharing recipes for meals and possibly even the general ideas of [communism](communism.md) (not to be [confused](often_confused.md) with [Marxism](marxism.md)). Early digital sharing communities on networks such as [BBS](bbs.md) and [Usenet](usenet.md) worked like free software communities "by default", without really articulating or naming the concept -- they shared software informally without [licenses](license.md) as back then capitalists haven't yet had enough time to ruin everything, but that slowly started to change with more commercialization of the brand new field.
Precursors to free software may reach as far back in [history](history.md) as we are willing to look. They may include for example ancient [mathematicians](math.md) sharing their equations with each other, engineers sharing plans, people sharing recipes for meals, and influence can possibly also come from the general ideas of [communism](communism.md) (not to be [confused](often_confused.md) with [Marxism](marxism.md)). In 20th century the early digital sharing communities on networks such as [BBS](bbs.md) and [Usenet](usenet.md) worked like free software communities "by default", without really articulating or naming the concept -- they shared software informally without [licenses](license.md) as back then it was believed [copyright](copyright.md) didn't even apply to software -- capitalists haven't yet had enough time to fuck everything up, but that slowly started to change with more commercialization of the brand new field and legal cases that would indeed establish that software was copyrightable.
Free software, in a form discussed here, was invented by [Richard Stallman](rms.md) in the 1980s. He cites his frustration with a proprietary printer driver as an initial impulse. In 1983 he announced the now already legendary project called [GNU](gnu.md) -- one to implement a completely free as in freedom [operating system](os.md). The announcement already contains the word "free", but more in a sense of "not having to pay for permissions". Additionally in 1985 Stallman established the [Free Software Foundation](fsf.md), a non-profit for promotion and support of free software, and this is when the term *free software* seems to have been clearly distinguished.
Free software, in a form discussed here, was invented by [Richard Stallman](rms.md) in the 1980s. He cites his frustration with a proprietary printer driver as an initial impulse. In 1983 he announced the now already legendary project called [GNU](gnu.md) -- one to implement a completely free as in freedom [operating system](os.md). The announcement described the system as "free", however still more in a sense of "not having to pay for permissions". Additionally in 1985 Stallman established the [Free Software Foundation](fsf.md), a non-profit for promotion and support of free software, and this is when the term *free software* seems to have been clearly distinguished. In late 1980s Stallman wrote [GPL](gpl.md), the major (and now one of the most frequent) free licenses. Other standard free licenses, such as the [MIT](mit.md) or [BSD](bsd.md), also appeared around this time. Before these standard licenses programs had to use custom ones, which was much harder and less legally safe.
In early [1990s](90s.md) a new project called [Linux](linux.md) -- an operating system kernel -- joined GNU and as a final piece of the puzzle completed its main goal. From now on it became practically possibly to do one's computing solely with free software.
Free software gained enough momentum to become a serious threat to capitalism and many started to attack it, most notably [Microsoft](microsoft.md) who was caught red handed with the leak of so called *Halloween documents* in late [1990s](90s.md), in which they discuss strategies for eliminating the threat of free software.
Free software gained enough momentum to become a serious threat to capitalism and so opposition appeared, most notably [Microsoft](microsoft.md), caught red handed with the leak of so called *Halloween documents* in late [1990s](90s.md), in which they discuss strategies for eliminating the threat of free software. Despite this free software couldn't be stopped and grew in popularity, which is apparent from the huge success of [GNU](gnu.md)/[Linux](linux.md) and from the cases when very valuable software, such as the [Doom](doom.md) engine or [Blender](blender.md), got released under free terms.
Later on the free software movement inspired movements such as [free culture](free_culture.md) (shortly after the year 2000) and the evil [open-source](open_source.md) [fork](fork.md) (1998, a malicious response of business, a kind of "free software" minus ethics).
Later on free software inspired movements such as [free culture](free_culture.md) (shortly after the year 2000) and the evil [open-source](open_source.md) [fork](fork.md) (1998, a malicious response of business, a kind of "free software" minus ethics).
TODO: more more more, famous cases of FS (Doom engine, ...)
Sadly around 2010 (aka the year when everything started to go to [shit](shit.md)) the "open source" wave was already overshadowing free software. This was really a part of the great societal [downfall](collapse.md), the time when dystopian ultracapitalism finally got to finishing off the last remnants of ethical values in society.
**By 2024 free software is dead** -- yes, [FSF](fsf.md) and a few other software "activists" are still around, but they don't bear any significance anymore, the free software movement disappeared just like hippies disappeared with 1960s. FSF has become just an email spamming organization supporting lesbian [rights](rights_culture.md) on the Internet, and those who truly believe in free software form a community that by its size is comparable to such insignificantly small groups as [suckless](suckless.md) for example. Everything is now "[open $ource](open_source.md)", which only means one thing: it is hosted on [GitHub](github.md), and doesn't at all imply free code, available code, non-malicious features or even perhaps such a laughable thing as pursuit of freedom. Corruption, politics and [free market](capitalism.md) have finally killed the free software movement, [open $ource](open_source.md) prevailed exactly as it was planned by capitalists at the meeting in 1998, and it has now redefined even the basic pillars of the four freedoms (partial openness, [fair use](fair_use.md) or just source availability is now practically synonymous with "open source") -- just like for example "thou shalt not kill" was removed from Christianity because it wasn't convenient for the overlords -- and by this the fate of technology is sealed, free software seems to have only postponed the [capitalist disaster](capitalist_singularity.md) by a few decades, which is still a remarkable feat. { It's been pointed out to me that even some project that call themselves "free" or "libre", such as "Libre"Boot, are in fact breaking the rules of freedom now, for example by including proprietary blobs. ~drummyfish }