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annotate man/gnu.texi @ 66232:56ef756519f4
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author | Kim F. Storm <storm@cua.dk> |
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date | Thu, 20 Oct 2005 15:02:42 +0000 |
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25829 | 1 @c This is part of the Emacs manual. |
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2 @c Copyright (C) 1985, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2003, 2004, |
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3 @c 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
25829 | 4 @ifclear justgnu |
5 @node Manifesto,, MS-DOS, Top | |
6 @unnumbered The GNU Manifesto | |
7 @end ifclear | |
8 @ifset justgnu | |
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9 Copyright (C) 1985, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, |
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10 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
25829 | 11 |
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12 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document |
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13 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or |
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14 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no |
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15 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU |
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16 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the |
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17 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation |
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18 License'' in the Emacs manual. |
25829 | 19 |
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20 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify |
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21 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free |
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22 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.'' |
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23 |
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24 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free |
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25 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document |
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26 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the |
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27 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license. |
25829 | 28 |
29 @node Top | |
30 @top The GNU Manifesto | |
31 @end ifset | |
32 | |
33 @quotation | |
34 The GNU Manifesto which appears below was written by Richard Stallman at | |
35 the beginning of the GNU project, to ask for participation and support. | |
36 For the first few years, it was updated in minor ways to account for | |
37 developments, but now it seems best to leave it unchanged as most people | |
38 have seen it. | |
39 | |
40 Since that time, we have learned about certain common misunderstandings | |
41 that different wording could help avoid. Footnotes added in 1993 help | |
42 clarify these points. | |
43 | |
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44 For up-to-date information about the available GNU software, please |
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45 see @uref{http://www.gnu.org}. For software tasks to work on, see |
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46 @uref{http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/tasklist}. For other ways to |
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47 contribute, see @uref{http://www.gnu.org/help}. |
25829 | 48 @end quotation |
49 | |
50 @unnumberedsec What's GNU? Gnu's Not Unix! | |
51 | |
52 GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete | |
53 Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it | |
54 away free to everyone who can use it.@footnote{The wording here was | |
55 careless. The intention was that nobody would have to pay for | |
56 @emph{permission} to use the GNU system. But the words don't make this | |
57 clear, and people often interpret them as saying that copies of GNU | |
58 should always be distributed at little or no charge. That was never the | |
59 intent; later on, the manifesto mentions the possibility of companies | |
60 providing the service of distribution for a profit. Subsequently I have | |
61 learned to distinguish carefully between ``free'' in the sense of | |
62 freedom and ``free'' in the sense of price. Free software is software | |
63 that users have the freedom to distribute and change. Some users may | |
64 obtain copies at no charge, while others pay to obtain copies---and if | |
65 the funds help support improving the software, so much the better. The | |
66 important thing is that everyone who has a copy has the freedom to | |
67 cooperate with others in using it.} Several other volunteers are helping | |
68 me. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly | |
69 needed. | |
70 | |
71 So far we have an Emacs text editor with Lisp for writing editor commands, | |
72 a source level debugger, a yacc-compatible parser generator, a linker, and | |
73 around 35 utilities. A shell (command interpreter) is nearly completed. A | |
74 new portable optimizing C compiler has compiled itself and may be released | |
75 this year. An initial kernel exists but many more features are needed to | |
76 emulate Unix. When the kernel and compiler are finished, it will be | |
77 possible to distribute a GNU system suitable for program development. We | |
78 will use @TeX{} as our text formatter, but an nroff is being worked on. We | |
79 will use the free, portable X window system as well. After this we will | |
80 add a portable Common Lisp, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of | |
81 other things, plus on-line documentation. We hope to supply, eventually, | |
82 everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and more. | |
83 | |
84 GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to Unix. | |
85 We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our experience | |
86 with other operating systems. In particular, we plan to have longer | |
87 file names, file version numbers, a crashproof file system, file name | |
88 completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and perhaps | |
89 eventually a Lisp-based window system through which several Lisp programs | |
90 and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen. Both C and Lisp will be | |
91 available as system programming languages. We will try to support UUCP, | |
92 MIT Chaosnet, and Internet protocols for communication. | |
93 | |
94 GNU is aimed initially at machines in the 68000/16000 class with virtual | |
95 memory, because they are the easiest machines to make it run on. The extra | |
96 effort to make it run on smaller machines will be left to someone who wants | |
97 to use it on them. | |
98 | |
99 To avoid horrible confusion, please pronounce the `G' in the word `GNU' | |
100 when it is the name of this project. | |
101 | |
102 @unnumberedsec Why I Must Write GNU | |
103 | |
104 I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must | |
105 share it with other people who like it. Software sellers want to divide | |
106 the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share with | |
107 others. I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this way. I | |
108 cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a software | |
109 license agreement. For years I worked within the Artificial Intelligence | |
110 Lab to resist such tendencies and other inhospitalities, but eventually | |
111 they had gone too far: I could not remain in an institution where such | |
112 things are done for me against my will. | |
113 | |
114 So that I can continue to use computers without dishonor, I have decided to | |
115 put together a sufficient body of free software so that I will be able to | |
116 get along without any software that is not free. I have resigned from the | |
117 AI lab to deny MIT any legal excuse to prevent me from giving GNU away. | |
118 | |
119 @unnumberedsec Why GNU Will Be Compatible with Unix | |
120 | |
121 Unix is not my ideal system, but it is not too bad. The essential features | |
122 of Unix seem to be good ones, and I think I can fill in what Unix lacks | |
123 without spoiling them. And a system compatible with Unix would be | |
124 convenient for many other people to adopt. | |
125 | |
126 @unnumberedsec How GNU Will Be Available | |
127 | |
128 GNU is not in the public domain. Everyone will be permitted to modify and | |
129 redistribute GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to restrict its | |
130 further redistribution. That is to say, proprietary modifications will not | |
131 be allowed. I want to make sure that all versions of GNU remain free. | |
132 | |
133 @unnumberedsec Why Many Other Programmers Want to Help | |
134 | |
135 I have found many other programmers who are excited about GNU and want to | |
136 help. | |
137 | |
138 Many programmers are unhappy about the commercialization of system | |
139 software. It may enable them to make more money, but it requires them to | |
140 feel in conflict with other programmers in general rather than feel as | |
141 comrades. The fundamental act of friendship among programmers is the | |
142 sharing of programs; marketing arrangements now typically used essentially | |
143 forbid programmers to treat others as friends. The purchaser of software | |
144 must choose between friendship and obeying the law. Naturally, many decide | |
145 that friendship is more important. But those who believe in law often do | |
146 not feel at ease with either choice. They become cynical and think that | |
147 programming is just a way of making money. | |
148 | |
149 By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can be | |
150 hospitable to everyone and obey the law. In addition, GNU serves as an | |
151 example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in sharing. | |
152 This can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if we use | |
153 software that is not free. For about half the programmers I talk to, this | |
154 is an important happiness that money cannot replace. | |
155 | |
156 @unnumberedsec How You Can Contribute | |
157 | |
158 I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and money. | |
159 I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work. | |
160 | |
161 One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU will run | |
162 on them at an early date. The machines should be complete, ready to use | |
163 systems, approved for use in a residential area, and not in need of | |
164 sophisticated cooling or power. | |
165 | |
166 I have found very many programmers eager to contribute part-time work for | |
167 GNU. For most projects, such part-time distributed work would be very hard | |
168 to coordinate; the independently-written parts would not work together. | |
169 But for the particular task of replacing Unix, this problem is absent. A | |
170 complete Unix system contains hundreds of utility programs, each of which | |
171 is documented separately. Most interface specifications are fixed by Unix | |
172 compatibility. If each contributor can write a compatible replacement for | |
173 a single Unix utility, and make it work properly in place of the original | |
174 on a Unix system, then these utilities will work right when put together. | |
175 Even allowing for Murphy to create a few unexpected problems, assembling | |
176 these components will be a feasible task. (The kernel will require closer | |
177 communication and will be worked on by a small, tight group.) | |
178 | |
179 If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full or | |
180 part time. The salary won't be high by programmers' standards, but I'm | |
181 looking for people for whom building community spirit is as important as | |
182 making money. I view this as a way of enabling dedicated people to devote | |
183 their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them the need to make a | |
184 living in another way. | |
185 | |
186 @unnumberedsec Why All Computer Users Will Benefit | |
187 | |
188 Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system | |
189 software free, just like air.@footnote{This is another place I failed to | |
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190 distinguish carefully between the two different meanings of ``free.'' |
25829 | 191 The statement as it stands is not false---you can get copies of GNU |
192 software at no charge, from your friends or over the net. But it does | |
193 suggest the wrong idea.} | |
194 | |
195 This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix license. | |
196 It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming effort will | |
197 be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the state of the | |
198 art. | |
199 | |
200 Complete system sources will be available to everyone. As a result, a user | |
201 who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them himself, | |
202 or hire any available programmer or company to make them for him. Users | |
203 will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company which owns the | |
204 sources and is in sole position to make changes. | |
205 | |
206 Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment by | |
207 encouraging all students to study and improve the system code. Harvard's | |
208 computer lab used to have the policy that no program could be installed on | |
209 the system if its sources were not on public display, and upheld it by | |
210 actually refusing to install certain programs. I was very much inspired by | |
211 this. | |
212 | |
213 Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software and what | |
214 one is or is not entitled to do with it will be lifted. | |
215 | |
216 Arrangements to make people pay for using a program, including licensing of | |
217 copies, always incur a tremendous cost to society through the cumbersome | |
218 mechanisms necessary to figure out how much (that is, which programs) a | |
219 person must pay for. And only a police state can force everyone to obey | |
220 them. Consider a space station where air must be manufactured at great | |
221 cost: charging each breather per liter of air may be fair, but wearing the | |
222 metered gas mask all day and all night is intolerable even if everyone can | |
223 afford to pay the air bill. And the TV cameras everywhere to see if you | |
224 ever take the mask off are outrageous. It's better to support the air | |
225 plant with a head tax and chuck the masks. | |
226 | |
227 Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as | |
228 breathing, and as productive. It ought to be as free. | |
229 | |
230 @unnumberedsec Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU's Goals | |
231 | |
232 @quotation | |
233 ``Nobody will use it if it is free, because that means they can't rely | |
234 on any support.'' | |
235 | |
236 ``You have to charge for the program to pay for providing the | |
237 support.'' | |
238 @end quotation | |
239 | |
240 If people would rather pay for GNU plus service than get GNU free without | |
241 service, a company to provide just service to people who have obtained GNU | |
242 free ought to be profitable.@footnote{Several such companies now exist.} | |
243 | |
244 We must distinguish between support in the form of real programming work | |
245 and mere handholding. The former is something one cannot rely on from a | |
246 software vendor. If your problem is not shared by enough people, the | |
247 vendor will tell you to get lost. | |
248 | |
249 If your business needs to be able to rely on support, the only way is to | |
250 have all the necessary sources and tools. Then you can hire any available | |
251 person to fix your problem; you are not at the mercy of any individual. | |
252 With Unix, the price of sources puts this out of consideration for most | |
253 businesses. With GNU this will be easy. It is still possible for there to | |
254 be no available competent person, but this problem cannot be blamed on | |
255 distribution arrangements. GNU does not eliminate all the world's problems, | |
256 only some of them. | |
257 | |
258 Meanwhile, the users who know nothing about computers need handholding: | |
259 doing things for them which they could easily do themselves but don't know | |
260 how. | |
261 | |
262 Such services could be provided by companies that sell just hand-holding | |
263 and repair service. If it is true that users would rather spend money and | |
264 get a product with service, they will also be willing to buy the service | |
265 having got the product free. The service companies will compete in quality | |
266 and price; users will not be tied to any particular one. Meanwhile, those | |
267 of us who don't need the service should be able to use the program without | |
268 paying for the service. | |
269 | |
270 @quotation | |
271 ``You cannot reach many people without advertising, | |
272 and you must charge for the program to support that.'' | |
273 | |
274 ``It's no use advertising a program people can get free.'' | |
275 @end quotation | |
276 | |
277 There are various forms of free or very cheap publicity that can be used to | |
278 inform numbers of computer users about something like GNU. But it may be | |
279 true that one can reach more microcomputer users with advertising. If this | |
280 is really so, a business which advertises the service of copying and | |
281 mailing GNU for a fee ought to be successful enough to pay for its | |
282 advertising and more. This way, only the users who benefit from the | |
283 advertising pay for it. | |
284 | |
285 On the other hand, if many people get GNU from their friends, and such | |
286 companies don't succeed, this will show that advertising was not really | |
287 necessary to spread GNU. Why is it that free market advocates don't | |
288 want to let the free market decide this?@footnote{The Free Software | |
289 Foundation raises most of its funds from a distribution service, | |
290 although it is a charity rather than a company. If @emph{no one} | |
291 chooses to obtain copies by ordering from the FSF, it will be unable | |
292 to do its work. But this does not mean that proprietary restrictions | |
293 are justified to force every user to pay. If a small fraction of all | |
294 the users order copies from the FSF, that is sufficient to keep the FSF | |
295 afloat. So we ask users to choose to support us in this way. Have you | |
296 done your part?} | |
297 | |
298 @quotation | |
299 ``My company needs a proprietary operating system | |
300 to get a competitive edge.'' | |
301 @end quotation | |
302 | |
303 GNU will remove operating system software from the realm of competition. | |
304 You will not be able to get an edge in this area, but neither will your | |
305 competitors be able to get an edge over you. You and they will compete in | |
306 other areas, while benefiting mutually in this one. If your business is | |
307 selling an operating system, you will not like GNU, but that's tough on | |
308 you. If your business is something else, GNU can save you from being | |
309 pushed into the expensive business of selling operating systems. | |
310 | |
311 I would like to see GNU development supported by gifts from many | |
312 manufacturers and users, reducing the cost to each.@footnote{A group of | |
313 computer companies recently pooled funds to support maintenance of the | |
314 GNU C Compiler.} | |
315 | |
316 @quotation | |
317 ``Don't programmers deserve a reward for their creativity?'' | |
318 @end quotation | |
319 | |
320 If anything deserves a reward, it is social contribution. Creativity can | |
321 be a social contribution, but only in so far as society is free to use the | |
322 results. If programmers deserve to be rewarded for creating innovative | |
323 programs, by the same token they deserve to be punished if they restrict | |
324 the use of these programs. | |
325 | |
326 @quotation | |
327 ``Shouldn't a programmer be able to ask for a reward for his creativity?'' | |
328 @end quotation | |
329 | |
330 There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to maximize | |
331 one's income, as long as one does not use means that are destructive. But | |
332 the means customary in the field of software today are based on | |
333 destruction. | |
334 | |
335 Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of it is | |
336 destructive because the restrictions reduce the amount and the ways that | |
337 the program can be used. This reduces the amount of wealth that humanity | |
338 derives from the program. When there is a deliberate choice to restrict, | |
339 the harmful consequences are deliberate destruction. | |
340 | |
341 The reason a good citizen does not use such destructive means to become | |
342 wealthier is that, if everyone did so, we would all become poorer from the | |
343 mutual destructiveness. This is Kantian ethics; or, the Golden Rule. | |
344 Since I do not like the consequences that result if everyone hoards | |
345 information, I am required to consider it wrong for one to do so. | |
346 Specifically, the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity does not | |
347 justify depriving the world in general of all or part of that creativity. | |
348 | |
349 @quotation | |
350 ``Won't programmers starve?'' | |
351 @end quotation | |
352 | |
353 I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer. Most of us cannot | |
354 manage to get any money for standing on the street and making faces. But | |
355 we are not, as a result, condemned to spend our lives standing on the | |
356 street making faces, and starving. We do something else. | |
357 | |
358 But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner's implicit | |
359 assumption: that without ownership of software, programmers cannot possibly | |
360 be paid a cent. Supposedly it is all or nothing. | |
361 | |
362 The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be | |
363 possible for them to get paid for programming; just not paid as much as | |
364 now. | |
365 | |
366 Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software. It is | |
367 the most common basis because it brings in the most money. If it were | |
368 prohibited, or rejected by the customer, software business would move to | |
369 other bases of organization which are now used less often. There are | |
370 always numerous ways to organize any kind of business. | |
371 | |
372 Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it is | |
373 now. But that is not an argument against the change. It is not considered | |
374 an injustice that sales clerks make the salaries that they now do. If | |
375 programmers made the same, that would not be an injustice either. (In | |
376 practice they would still make considerably more than that.) | |
377 | |
378 @quotation | |
379 ``Don't people have a right to control how their creativity is used?'' | |
380 @end quotation | |
381 | |
382 ``Control over the use of one's ideas'' really constitutes control over | |
383 other people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more | |
384 difficult. | |
385 | |
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386 People who have studied the issue of intellectual property |
64244 | 387 rights@footnote{In the 80s I had not yet realized how confusing it was |
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388 to speak of ``the issue'' of ``intellectual property.'' That term is |
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389 obviously biased; more subtle is the fact that it lumps together |
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390 various disparate laws which raise very different issues. Nowadays I |
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391 urge people to reject the term ``intellectual property'' entirely, |
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392 lest it lead others to suppose that those laws form one coherent |
64244 | 393 issue. The way to be clear is to discuss patents, copyrights, and |
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394 trademarks separately. See |
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395 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml} for more |
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396 explanation of how this term spreads confusion and bias.} carefully |
25829 | 397 (such as lawyers) say that there is no intrinsic right to intellectual |
398 property. The kinds of supposed intellectual property rights that the | |
399 government recognizes were created by specific acts of legislation for | |
400 specific purposes. | |
401 | |
402 For example, the patent system was established to encourage inventors to | |
403 disclose the details of their inventions. Its purpose was to help society | |
404 rather than to help inventors. At the time, the life span of 17 years for | |
405 a patent was short compared with the rate of advance of the state of the | |
406 art. Since patents are an issue only among manufacturers, for whom the | |
407 cost and effort of a license agreement are small compared with setting up | |
408 production, the patents often do not do much harm. They do not obstruct | |
409 most individuals who use patented products. | |
410 | |
411 The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors | |
412 frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction. This | |
413 practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have survived | |
414 even in part. The copyright system was created expressly for the purpose | |
415 of encouraging authorship. In the domain for which it was | |
416 invented---books, which could be copied economically only on a printing | |
417 press---it did little harm, and did not obstruct most of the individuals | |
418 who read the books. | |
419 | |
420 All intellectual property rights are just licenses granted by society | |
421 because it was thought, rightly or wrongly, that society as a whole would | |
422 benefit by granting them. But in any particular situation, we have to ask: | |
423 are we really better off granting such license? What kind of act are we | |
424 licensing a person to do? | |
425 | |
426 The case of programs today is very different from that of books a hundred | |
427 years ago. The fact that the easiest way to copy a program is from one | |
428 neighbor to another, the fact that a program has both source code and | |
429 object code which are distinct, and the fact that a program is used rather | |
430 than read and enjoyed, combine to create a situation in which a person who | |
431 enforces a copyright is harming society as a whole both materially and | |
432 spiritually; in which a person should not do so regardless of whether the | |
433 law enables him to. | |
434 | |
435 @quotation | |
436 ``Competition makes things get done better.'' | |
437 @end quotation | |
438 | |
439 The paradigm of competition is a race: by rewarding the winner, we | |
440 encourage everyone to run faster. When capitalism really works this way, | |
441 it does a good job; but its defenders are wrong in assuming it always works | |
442 this way. If the runners forget why the reward is offered and become | |
443 intent on winning, no matter how, they may find other strategies---such as, | |
444 attacking other runners. If the runners get into a fist fight, they will | |
445 all finish late. | |
446 | |
447 Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners in a | |
448 fist fight. Sad to say, the only referee we've got does not seem to | |
449 object to fights; he just regulates them (``For every ten yards you run, | |
450 you can fire one shot''). He really ought to break them up, and penalize | |
451 runners for even trying to fight. | |
452 | |
453 @quotation | |
454 ``Won't everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?'' | |
455 @end quotation | |
456 | |
457 Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary incentive. | |
458 Programming has an irresistible fascination for some people, usually the | |
459 people who are best at it. There is no shortage of professional musicians | |
460 who keep at it even though they have no hope of making a living that way. | |
461 | |
462 But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate to the | |
463 situation. Pay for programmers will not disappear, only become less. So | |
464 the right question is, will anyone program with a reduced monetary | |
465 incentive? My experience shows that they will. | |
466 | |
467 For more than ten years, many of the world's best programmers worked at the | |
468 Artificial Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could have had | |
469 anywhere else. They got many kinds of non-monetary rewards: fame and | |
470 appreciation, for example. And creativity is also fun, a reward in itself. | |
471 | |
472 Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same interesting | |
473 work for a lot of money. | |
474 | |
475 What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other than | |
476 riches; but if given a chance to make a lot of money as well, they will | |
477 come to expect and demand it. Low-paying organizations do poorly in | |
478 competition with high-paying ones, but they do not have to do badly if the | |
479 high-paying ones are banned. | |
480 | |
481 @quotation | |
482 ``We need the programmers desperately. If they demand that we | |
483 stop helping our neighbors, we have to obey.'' | |
484 @end quotation | |
485 | |
486 You're never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand. | |
487 Remember: millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute! | |
488 | |
489 @quotation | |
490 ``Programmers need to make a living somehow.'' | |
491 @end quotation | |
492 | |
493 In the short run, this is true. However, there are plenty of ways that | |
494 programmers could make a living without selling the right to use a program. | |
495 This way is customary now because it brings programmers and businessmen the | |
496 most money, not because it is the only way to make a living. It is easy to | |
497 find other ways if you want to find them. Here are a number of examples. | |
498 | |
499 A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of | |
500 operating systems onto the new hardware. | |
501 | |
502 The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could also | |
503 employ programmers. | |
504 | |
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505 People with new ideas could distribute programs as |
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506 freeware@footnote{Subsequently we have learned to distinguish between |
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507 "free software" and "freeware". The term "freeware" means software |
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508 you are free to redistribute, but usually you are not free to study |
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509 and change the source code, so most of it is not free software. See |
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510 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html} for more |
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511 explanation.}, asking for donations from satisfied users, or selling |
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512 hand-holding services. I have met people who are already working this |
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513 way successfully. |
25829 | 514 |
515 Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues. A group | |
516 would contract with programming companies to write programs that the | |
517 group's members would like to use. | |
518 | |
519 All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax: | |
520 | |
521 @quotation | |
522 Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay x percent of | |
523 the price as a software tax. The government gives this to | |
524 an agency like the NSF to spend on software development. | |
525 | |
526 But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development | |
527 himself, he can take a credit against the tax. He can donate to | |
528 the project of his own choosing---often, chosen because he hopes to | |
529 use the results when it is done. He can take a credit for any amount | |
530 of donation up to the total tax he had to pay. | |
531 | |
532 The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of | |
533 the tax, weighted according to the amount they will be taxed on. | |
534 | |
535 The consequences: | |
536 | |
537 @itemize @bullet | |
538 @item | |
539 The computer-using community supports software development. | |
540 @item | |
541 This community decides what level of support is needed. | |
542 @item | |
543 Users who care which projects their share is spent on | |
544 can choose this for themselves. | |
545 @end itemize | |
546 @end quotation | |
547 | |
548 In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the post-scarcity | |
549 world, where nobody will have to work very hard just to make a living. | |
550 People will be free to devote themselves to activities that are fun, such | |
551 as programming, after spending the necessary ten hours a week on required | |
552 tasks such as legislation, family counseling, robot repair and asteroid | |
553 prospecting. There will be no need to be able to make a living from | |
554 programming. | |
555 | |
556 We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole society | |
557 must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this has | |
558 translated itself into leisure for workers because much nonproductive | |
559 activity is required to accompany productive activity. The main causes of | |
560 this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against competition. Free | |
561 software will greatly reduce these drains in the area of software | |
562 production. We must do this, in order for technical gains in productivity | |
563 to translate into less work for us. | |
52401 | 564 |
565 @ignore | |
566 arch-tag: 21eb38f8-6fa0-480a-91cd-f3dab7148542 | |
567 @end ignore |