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546 lines
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Plaintext
Copyright (C) 1985, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
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2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
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of this document, in any medium, provided that the copyright notice and
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permission notice are preserved, and that the distributor grants the
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recipient permission for further redistribution as permitted by this
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notice.
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Modified versions may not be made.
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The GNU Manifesto
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*****************
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The GNU Manifesto which appears below was written by Richard
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Stallman at the beginning of the GNU project, to ask for
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participation and support. For the first few years, it was
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updated in minor ways to account for developments, but now it
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seems best to leave it unchanged as most people have seen it.
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Since that time, we have learned about certain common
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misunderstandings that different wording could help avoid.
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Footnotes added in 1993 help clarify these points.
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For up-to-date information about the available GNU software,
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please see www.gnu.org. For software tasks to work on, see
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http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/tasklist. For other ways
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to contribute, see http://www.gnu.org/help.
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What's GNU? Gnu's Not Unix!
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============================
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GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete
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Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it
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away free to everyone who can use it.(1) Several other volunteers are
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helping me. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are
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greatly needed.
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So far we have an Emacs text editor with Lisp for writing editor
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commands, a source level debugger, a yacc-compatible parser generator,
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a linker, and around 35 utilities. A shell (command interpreter) is
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nearly completed. A new portable optimizing C compiler has compiled
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itself and may be released this year. An initial kernel exists but
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many more features are needed to emulate Unix. When the kernel and
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compiler are finished, it will be possible to distribute a GNU system
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suitable for program development. We will use TeX as our text
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formatter, but an nroff is being worked on. We will use the free,
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portable X window system as well. After this we will add a portable
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Common Lisp, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of other
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things, plus on-line documentation. We hope to supply, eventually,
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everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and more.
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GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to
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Unix. We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our
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experience with other operating systems. In particular, we plan to
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have longer file names, file version numbers, a crashproof file system,
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file name completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and
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perhaps eventually a Lisp-based window system through which several
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Lisp programs and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen. Both C
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and Lisp will be available as system programming languages. We will
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try to support UUCP, MIT Chaosnet, and Internet protocols for
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communication.
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GNU is aimed initially at machines in the 68000/16000 class with
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virtual memory, because they are the easiest machines to make it run
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on. The extra effort to make it run on smaller machines will be left
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to someone who wants to use it on them.
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To avoid horrible confusion, please pronounce the `G' in the word
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`GNU' when it is the name of this project.
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Why I Must Write GNU
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====================
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I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I
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must share it with other people who like it. Software sellers want to
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divide the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share
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with others. I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this
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way. I cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a
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software license agreement. For years I worked within the Artificial
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Intelligence Lab to resist such tendencies and other inhospitalities,
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but eventually they had gone too far: I could not remain in an
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institution where such things are done for me against my will.
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So that I can continue to use computers without dishonor, I have
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decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that I
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will be able to get along without any software that is not free. I
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have resigned from the AI lab to deny MIT any legal excuse to prevent
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me from giving GNU away.
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Why GNU Will Be Compatible with Unix
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====================================
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Unix is not my ideal system, but it is not too bad. The essential
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features of Unix seem to be good ones, and I think I can fill in what
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Unix lacks without spoiling them. And a system compatible with Unix
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would be convenient for many other people to adopt.
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How GNU Will Be Available
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=========================
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GNU is not in the public domain. Everyone will be permitted to
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modify and redistribute GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to
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restrict its further redistribution. That is to say, proprietary
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modifications will not be allowed. I want to make sure that all
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versions of GNU remain free.
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Why Many Other Programmers Want to Help
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=======================================
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I have found many other programmers who are excited about GNU and
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want to help.
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Many programmers are unhappy about the commercialization of system
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software. It may enable them to make more money, but it requires them
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to feel in conflict with other programmers in general rather than feel
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as comrades. The fundamental act of friendship among programmers is the
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sharing of programs; marketing arrangements now typically used
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essentially forbid programmers to treat others as friends. The
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purchaser of software must choose between friendship and obeying the
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law. Naturally, many decide that friendship is more important. But
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those who believe in law often do not feel at ease with either choice.
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They become cynical and think that programming is just a way of making
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money.
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By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can
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be hospitable to everyone and obey the law. In addition, GNU serves as
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an example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in
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sharing. This can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if
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we use software that is not free. For about half the programmers I
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talk to, this is an important happiness that money cannot replace.
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How You Can Contribute
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======================
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I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and
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money. I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work.
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One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU
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will run on them at an early date. The machines should be complete,
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ready to use systems, approved for use in a residential area, and not
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in need of sophisticated cooling or power.
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I have found very many programmers eager to contribute part-time
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work for GNU. For most projects, such part-time distributed work would
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be very hard to coordinate; the independently-written parts would not
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work together. But for the particular task of replacing Unix, this
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problem is absent. A complete Unix system contains hundreds of utility
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programs, each of which is documented separately. Most interface
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specifications are fixed by Unix compatibility. If each contributor
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can write a compatible replacement for a single Unix utility, and make
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it work properly in place of the original on a Unix system, then these
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utilities will work right when put together. Even allowing for Murphy
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to create a few unexpected problems, assembling these components will
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be a feasible task. (The kernel will require closer communication and
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will be worked on by a small, tight group.)
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If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full
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or part time. The salary won't be high by programmers' standards, but
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I'm looking for people for whom building community spirit is as
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important as making money. I view this as a way of enabling dedicated
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people to devote their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them
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the need to make a living in another way.
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Why All Computer Users Will Benefit
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===================================
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Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system
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software free, just like air.(2)
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This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix
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license. It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming
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effort will be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the
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state of the art.
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Complete system sources will be available to everyone. As a result,
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a user who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them
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himself, or hire any available programmer or company to make them for
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him. Users will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company
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which owns the sources and is in sole position to make changes.
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Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment
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by encouraging all students to study and improve the system code.
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Harvard's computer lab used to have the policy that no program could be
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installed on the system if its sources were not on public display, and
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upheld it by actually refusing to install certain programs. I was very
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much inspired by this.
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Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software
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and what one is or is not entitled to do with it will be lifted.
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Arrangements to make people pay for using a program, including
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licensing of copies, always incur a tremendous cost to society through
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the cumbersome mechanisms necessary to figure out how much (that is,
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which programs) a person must pay for. And only a police state can
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force everyone to obey them. Consider a space station where air must
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be manufactured at great cost: charging each breather per liter of air
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may be fair, but wearing the metered gas mask all day and all night is
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intolerable even if everyone can afford to pay the air bill. And the
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TV cameras everywhere to see if you ever take the mask off are
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outrageous. It's better to support the air plant with a head tax and
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chuck the masks.
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Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as
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breathing, and as productive. It ought to be as free.
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Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU's Goals
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==============================================
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"Nobody will use it if it is free, because that means they can't
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rely on any support."
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"You have to charge for the program to pay for providing the
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support."
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If people would rather pay for GNU plus service than get GNU free
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without service, a company to provide just service to people who have
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obtained GNU free ought to be profitable.(3)
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We must distinguish between support in the form of real programming
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work and mere handholding. The former is something one cannot rely on
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from a software vendor. If your problem is not shared by enough
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people, the vendor will tell you to get lost.
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If your business needs to be able to rely on support, the only way
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is to have all the necessary sources and tools. Then you can hire any
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available person to fix your problem; you are not at the mercy of any
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individual. With Unix, the price of sources puts this out of
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consideration for most businesses. With GNU this will be easy. It is
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still possible for there to be no available competent person, but this
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problem cannot be blamed on distribution arrangements. GNU does not
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eliminate all the world's problems, only some of them.
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Meanwhile, the users who know nothing about computers need
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handholding: doing things for them which they could easily do
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themselves but don't know how.
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Such services could be provided by companies that sell just
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hand-holding and repair service. If it is true that users would rather
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spend money and get a product with service, they will also be willing
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to buy the service having got the product free. The service companies
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will compete in quality and price; users will not be tied to any
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particular one. Meanwhile, those of us who don't need the service
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should be able to use the program without paying for the service.
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"You cannot reach many people without advertising, and you must
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charge for the program to support that."
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"It's no use advertising a program people can get free."
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There are various forms of free or very cheap publicity that can be
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used to inform numbers of computer users about something like GNU. But
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it may be true that one can reach more microcomputer users with
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advertising. If this is really so, a business which advertises the
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service of copying and mailing GNU for a fee ought to be successful
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enough to pay for its advertising and more. This way, only the users
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who benefit from the advertising pay for it.
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On the other hand, if many people get GNU from their friends, and
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such companies don't succeed, this will show that advertising was not
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really necessary to spread GNU. Why is it that free market advocates
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don't want to let the free market decide this?(4)
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"My company needs a proprietary operating system to get a
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competitive edge."
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GNU will remove operating system software from the realm of
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competition. You will not be able to get an edge in this area, but
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neither will your competitors be able to get an edge over you. You and
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they will compete in other areas, while benefiting mutually in this
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one. If your business is selling an operating system, you will not
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like GNU, but that's tough on you. If your business is something else,
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GNU can save you from being pushed into the expensive business of
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selling operating systems.
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I would like to see GNU development supported by gifts from many
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manufacturers and users, reducing the cost to each.(5)
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"Don't programmers deserve a reward for their creativity?"
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If anything deserves a reward, it is social contribution.
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Creativity can be a social contribution, but only in so far as society
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is free to use the results. If programmers deserve to be rewarded for
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creating innovative programs, by the same token they deserve to be
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punished if they restrict the use of these programs.
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"Shouldn't a programmer be able to ask for a reward for his
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creativity?"
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There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to
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maximize one's income, as long as one does not use means that are
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destructive. But the means customary in the field of software today
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are based on destruction.
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Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of
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it is destructive because the restrictions reduce the amount and the
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ways that the program can be used. This reduces the amount of wealth
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that humanity derives from the program. When there is a deliberate
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choice to restrict, the harmful consequences are deliberate destruction.
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The reason a good citizen does not use such destructive means to
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become wealthier is that, if everyone did so, we would all become
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poorer from the mutual destructiveness. This is Kantian ethics; or,
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the Golden Rule. Since I do not like the consequences that result if
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everyone hoards information, I am required to consider it wrong for one
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to do so. Specifically, the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity
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does not justify depriving the world in general of all or part of that
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creativity.
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"Won't programmers starve?"
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I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer. Most of us
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cannot manage to get any money for standing on the street and making
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faces. But we are not, as a result, condemned to spend our lives
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standing on the street making faces, and starving. We do something
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else.
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But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner's
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implicit assumption: that without ownership of software, programmers
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cannot possibly be paid a cent. Supposedly it is all or nothing.
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The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be
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possible for them to get paid for programming; just not paid as much as
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now.
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Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software.
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It is the most common basis because it brings in the most money. If it
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were prohibited, or rejected by the customer, software business would
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move to other bases of organization which are now used less often.
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There are always numerous ways to organize any kind of business.
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Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it
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is now. But that is not an argument against the change. It is not
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considered an injustice that sales clerks make the salaries that they
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now do. If programmers made the same, that would not be an injustice
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either. (In practice they would still make considerably more than
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that.)
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"Don't people have a right to control how their creativity is
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used?"
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"Control over the use of one's ideas" really constitutes control over
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other people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more
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difficult.
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People who have studied the issue of intellectual property rights(6)
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carefully (such as lawyers) say that there is no intrinsic right to
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intellectual property. The kinds of supposed intellectual property
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rights that the government recognizes were created by specific acts of
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legislation for specific purposes.
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For example, the patent system was established to encourage
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inventors to disclose the details of their inventions. Its purpose was
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to help society rather than to help inventors. At the time, the life
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span of 17 years for a patent was short compared with the rate of
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advance of the state of the art. Since patents are an issue only among
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manufacturers, for whom the cost and effort of a license agreement are
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small compared with setting up production, the patents often do not do
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much harm. They do not obstruct most individuals who use patented
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products.
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The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors
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frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction. This
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practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have
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survived even in part. The copyright system was created expressly for
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the purpose of encouraging authorship. In the domain for which it was
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invented--books, which could be copied economically only on a printing
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press--it did little harm, and did not obstruct most of the individuals
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who read the books.
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All intellectual property rights are just licenses granted by society
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because it was thought, rightly or wrongly, that society as a whole
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would benefit by granting them. But in any particular situation, we
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have to ask: are we really better off granting such license? What kind
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of act are we licensing a person to do?
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The case of programs today is very different from that of books a
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hundred years ago. The fact that the easiest way to copy a program is
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from one neighbor to another, the fact that a program has both source
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code and object code which are distinct, and the fact that a program is
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used rather than read and enjoyed, combine to create a situation in
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which a person who enforces a copyright is harming society as a whole
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both materially and spiritually; in which a person should not do so
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regardless of whether the law enables him to.
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"Competition makes things get done better."
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The paradigm of competition is a race: by rewarding the winner, we
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encourage everyone to run faster. When capitalism really works this
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way, it does a good job; but its defenders are wrong in assuming it
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always works this way. If the runners forget why the reward is offered
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and become intent on winning, no matter how, they may find other
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strategies--such as, attacking other runners. If the runners get into
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a fist fight, they will all finish late.
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Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners
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in a fist fight. Sad to say, the only referee we've got does not seem
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to object to fights; he just regulates them ("For every ten yards you
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run, you can fire one shot"). He really ought to break them up, and
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penalize runners for even trying to fight.
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"Won't everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?"
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Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary
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incentive. Programming has an irresistible fascination for some
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people, usually the people who are best at it. There is no shortage of
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professional musicians who keep at it even though they have no hope of
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making a living that way.
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But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate
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to the situation. Pay for programmers will not disappear, only become
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less. So the right question is, will anyone program with a reduced
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monetary incentive? My experience shows that they will.
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For more than ten years, many of the world's best programmers worked
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at the Artificial Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could
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have had anywhere else. They got many kinds of non-monetary rewards:
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fame and appreciation, for example. And creativity is also fun, a
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reward in itself.
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Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same
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interesting work for a lot of money.
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What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other
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than riches; but if given a chance to make a lot of money as well, they
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will come to expect and demand it. Low-paying organizations do poorly
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in competition with high-paying ones, but they do not have to do badly
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if the high-paying ones are banned.
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"We need the programmers desperately. If they demand that we stop
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helping our neighbors, we have to obey."
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You're never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand.
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Remember: millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute!
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"Programmers need to make a living somehow."
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In the short run, this is true. However, there are plenty of ways
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that programmers could make a living without selling the right to use a
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program. This way is customary now because it brings programmers and
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businessmen the most money, not because it is the only way to make a
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living. It is easy to find other ways if you want to find them. Here
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are a number of examples.
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A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of
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operating systems onto the new hardware.
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The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could
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also employ programmers.
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People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware(7), asking
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for donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services.
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I have met people who are already working this way successfully.
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Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues. A
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group would contract with programming companies to write programs that
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the group's members would like to use.
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All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax:
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Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay x percent of the
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price as a software tax. The government gives this to an agency
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like the NSF to spend on software development.
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But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development
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himself, he can take a credit against the tax. He can donate to
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the project of his own choosing--often, chosen because he hopes to
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use the results when it is done. He can take a credit for any
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amount of donation up to the total tax he had to pay.
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The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of the
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tax, weighted according to the amount they will be taxed on.
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The consequences:
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* The computer-using community supports software development.
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* This community decides what level of support is needed.
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* Users who care which projects their share is spent on can
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choose this for themselves.
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In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the
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|
post-scarcity world, where nobody will have to work very hard just to
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|
make a living. People will be free to devote themselves to activities
|
|
that are fun, such as programming, after spending the necessary ten
|
|
hours a week on required tasks such as legislation, family counseling,
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|
robot repair and asteroid prospecting. There will be no need to be
|
|
able to make a living from programming.
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|
We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole
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|
society must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this
|
|
has translated itself into leisure for workers because much
|
|
nonproductive activity is required to accompany productive activity.
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|
The main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against
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|
competition. Free software will greatly reduce these drains in the
|
|
area of software production. We must do this, in order for technical
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|
gains in productivity to translate into less work for us.
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---------- Footnotes ----------
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(1) The wording here was careless. The intention was that nobody
|
|
would have to pay for *permission* to use the GNU system. But the
|
|
words don't make this clear, and people often interpret them as saying
|
|
that copies of GNU should always be distributed at little or no charge.
|
|
That was never the intent; later on, the manifesto mentions the
|
|
possibility of companies providing the service of distribution for a
|
|
profit. Subsequently I have learned to distinguish carefully between
|
|
"free" in the sense of freedom and "free" in the sense of price. Free
|
|
software is software that users have the freedom to distribute and
|
|
change. Some users may obtain copies at no charge, while others pay to
|
|
obtain copies--and if the funds help support improving the software, so
|
|
much the better. The important thing is that everyone who has a copy
|
|
has the freedom to cooperate with others in using it.
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|
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|
(2) This is another place I failed to distinguish carefully between
|
|
the two different meanings of "free". The statement as it stands is
|
|
not false--you can get copies of GNU software at no charge, from your
|
|
friends or over the net. But it does suggest the wrong idea.
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|
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|
(3) Several such companies now exist.
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|
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|
(4) The Free Software Foundation raised most of its funds for 10
|
|
years from a distribution service, although it is a charity rather
|
|
than a company.
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|
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|
(5) A group of computer companies pooled funds around 1991 to
|
|
support maintenance of the GNU C Compiler.
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|
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|
(6) In the 80s I had not yet realized how confusing it was to speak
|
|
of "the issue" of "intellectual property". That term is obviously
|
|
biased; more subtle is the fact that it lumps together various
|
|
disparate laws which raise very different issues. Nowadays I urge
|
|
people to reject the term "intellectual property" entirely, lest it
|
|
lead others to suppose that those laws form one coherent issue. The way to be
|
|
clear is to discuss patents, copyrights, and trademarks separately.
|
|
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml for more explanation
|
|
of how this term spreads confusion and bias.
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|
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|
(7) Subsequently we have learned to distinguish between "free
|
|
software" and "freeware". The term "freeware" means software you are
|
|
free to redistribute, but usually you are not free to study and change
|
|
the source code, so most of it is not free software. See
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|
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html for more
|
|
explanation.
|