article.olduse.net/771@mit-eddie.UUCP

{ Free Unix! Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a complete Unix-compatible software system called GNU (for Gnu's Not Unix), and give it away free to everyone who can use it. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly needed. …..}

Richard StallmanWith this e-mail, he started the GNU project, which will include a Unix-like but non-Unix-compatible kernel and the software/tools that will be needed. "GNU" name, “GNU's Not Unix (GNU Is Not Unix)” is a recursive abbreviation of .

Richard Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation (FSF1985 - Free Software Foundation) in 1 to promote the GNU project - his project - and to defend the rights of software users.

The basic features of the free software philosophy, that is, free software, which we briefly mentioned in the definition offered to the users, are as follows:

Freedom 0

Freedom to use the software for any purpose…

The freedom to use a software is our freedom to run the software regardless of our race or nationality, in the direction we want - the purpose - on unlimited users and hardware. The same freedom of use applies to institutions as well.

Licenses for free software contain contractual clauses that are to the advantage of the consumer, rather than the producer-oriented clauses in proprietary software—non-free—licenses.

Freedom 1

The freedom to learn how the program works and change it…

It is not acceptable to not be able to access the source codes of the software we use. They produce results according to the software they contain on systems/hardware. In other words, it is not us who use the devices, but the software on them. Therefore, if we cannot have information about how a software processes data, we leave ourselves to the initiative of the software manufacturer. In addition, it will not be possible to detect vulnerabilities and problems in the closed code even in cases where there is no intention.
Closed code will cause monopolization of information, and since software is a living phenomenon, it will make us dependent on a single center - the manufacturer. Necessary adjustments or additional improvements in the software to change technology and life will condemn us to a single channel, and this will cause unfair prices to be presented to us in support agreements.

Freedom 2

Freedom to distribute copies…

We may distribute copies of the program we have acquired, with or without charge.

Freedom 3

Freedom to publish Developed/Modified software…

We may publish modified versions of the software in a way that does not conflict with fundamental freedoms or interfere with redistribution.

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