annotate etc/GNU @ 28710:6efaa4627dee

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author Gerd Moellmann <gerd@gnu.org>
date Tue, 25 Apr 2000 19:43:58 +0000
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children 3ef78eaf5dca d7ddb3e565de 68c22ea6027c
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1 Copyright (C) 1985, 1993 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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2
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3 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
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4 of this document, in any medium, provided that the copyright notice and
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5 permission notice are preserved, and that the distributor grants the
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6 recipient permission for further redistribution as permitted by this
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7 notice.
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8
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9 Modified versions may not be made.
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10
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11 The GNU Manifesto
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12 *****************
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13
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14 The GNU Manifesto which appears below was written by Richard
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15 Stallman at the beginning of the GNU project, to ask for
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16 participation and support. For the first few years, it was
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17 updated in minor ways to account for developments, but now it
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18 seems best to leave it unchanged as most people have seen it.
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19
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20 Since that time, we have learned about certain common
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21 misunderstandings that different wording could help avoid.
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22 Footnotes added in 1993 help clarify these points.
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23
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24 For up-to-date information about the available GNU software,
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25 please see the latest issue of the GNU's Bulletin. The list is
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26 much too long to include here.
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27
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28 What's GNU? Gnu's Not Unix!
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29 ============================
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30
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31 GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete
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32 Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it
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33 away free to everyone who can use it.(1) Several other volunteers are
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34 helping me. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are
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35 greatly needed.
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36
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37 So far we have an Emacs text editor with Lisp for writing editor
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38 commands, a source level debugger, a yacc-compatible parser generator,
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39 a linker, and around 35 utilities. A shell (command interpreter) is
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40 nearly completed. A new portable optimizing C compiler has compiled
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41 itself and may be released this year. An initial kernel exists but
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42 many more features are needed to emulate Unix. When the kernel and
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43 compiler are finished, it will be possible to distribute a GNU system
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44 suitable for program development. We will use TeX as our text
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45 formatter, but an nroff is being worked on. We will use the free,
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46 portable X window system as well. After this we will add a portable
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47 Common Lisp, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of other
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48 things, plus on-line documentation. We hope to supply, eventually,
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49 everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and more.
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50
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51 GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to
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52 Unix. We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our
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53 experience with other operating systems. In particular, we plan to
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54 have longer file names, file version numbers, a crashproof file system,
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55 file name completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and
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56 perhaps eventually a Lisp-based window system through which several
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57 Lisp programs and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen. Both C
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58 and Lisp will be available as system programming languages. We will
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59 try to support UUCP, MIT Chaosnet, and Internet protocols for
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60 communication.
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61
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62 GNU is aimed initially at machines in the 68000/16000 class with
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63 virtual memory, because they are the easiest machines to make it run
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64 on. The extra effort to make it run on smaller machines will be left
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65 to someone who wants to use it on them.
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66
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67 To avoid horrible confusion, please pronounce the `G' in the word
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68 `GNU' when it is the name of this project.
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69
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70 Why I Must Write GNU
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71 ====================
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72
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73 I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I
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74 must share it with other people who like it. Software sellers want to
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75 divide the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share
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76 with others. I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this
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77 way. I cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a
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78 software license agreement. For years I worked within the Artificial
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79 Intelligence Lab to resist such tendencies and other inhospitalities,
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80 but eventually they had gone too far: I could not remain in an
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81 institution where such things are done for me against my will.
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82
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83 So that I can continue to use computers without dishonor, I have
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84 decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that I
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85 will be able to get along without any software that is not free. I
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86 have resigned from the AI lab to deny MIT any legal excuse to prevent
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87 me from giving GNU away.
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88
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89 Why GNU Will Be Compatible with Unix
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90 ====================================
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91
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92 Unix is not my ideal system, but it is not too bad. The essential
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93 features of Unix seem to be good ones, and I think I can fill in what
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94 Unix lacks without spoiling them. And a system compatible with Unix
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95 would be convenient for many other people to adopt.
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96
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97 How GNU Will Be Available
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98 =========================
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99
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100 GNU is not in the public domain. Everyone will be permitted to
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101 modify and redistribute GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to
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102 restrict its further redistribution. That is to say, proprietary
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103 modifications will not be allowed. I want to make sure that all
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104 versions of GNU remain free.
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105
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106 Why Many Other Programmers Want to Help
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107 =======================================
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108
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109 I have found many other programmers who are excited about GNU and
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110 want to help.
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111
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112 Many programmers are unhappy about the commercialization of system
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113 software. It may enable them to make more money, but it requires them
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114 to feel in conflict with other programmers in general rather than feel
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115 as comrades. The fundamental act of friendship among programmers is the
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116 sharing of programs; marketing arrangements now typically used
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117 essentially forbid programmers to treat others as friends. The
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118 purchaser of software must choose between friendship and obeying the
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119 law. Naturally, many decide that friendship is more important. But
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120 those who believe in law often do not feel at ease with either choice.
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121 They become cynical and think that programming is just a way of making
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122 money.
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123
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124 By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can
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125 be hospitable to everyone and obey the law. In addition, GNU serves as
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126 an example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in
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127 sharing. This can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if
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128 we use software that is not free. For about half the programmers I
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129 talk to, this is an important happiness that money cannot replace.
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130
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131 How You Can Contribute
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132 ======================
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133
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134 I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and
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135 money. I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work.
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136
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137 One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU
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138 will run on them at an early date. The machines should be complete,
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139 ready to use systems, approved for use in a residential area, and not
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140 in need of sophisticated cooling or power.
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141
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142 I have found very many programmers eager to contribute part-time
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143 work for GNU. For most projects, such part-time distributed work would
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144 be very hard to coordinate; the independently-written parts would not
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145 work together. But for the particular task of replacing Unix, this
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146 problem is absent. A complete Unix system contains hundreds of utility
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147 programs, each of which is documented separately. Most interface
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148 specifications are fixed by Unix compatibility. If each contributor
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149 can write a compatible replacement for a single Unix utility, and make
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150 it work properly in place of the original on a Unix system, then these
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151 utilities will work right when put together. Even allowing for Murphy
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152 to create a few unexpected problems, assembling these components will
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153 be a feasible task. (The kernel will require closer communication and
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154 will be worked on by a small, tight group.)
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155
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156 If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full
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157 or part time. The salary won't be high by programmers' standards, but
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158 I'm looking for people for whom building community spirit is as
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159 important as making money. I view this as a way of enabling dedicated
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160 people to devote their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them
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161 the need to make a living in another way.
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162
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163 Why All Computer Users Will Benefit
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164 ===================================
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165
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166 Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system
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167 software free, just like air.(2)
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168
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169 This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix
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170 license. It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming
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171 effort will be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the
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172 state of the art.
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173
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174 Complete system sources will be available to everyone. As a result,
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175 a user who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them
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176 himself, or hire any available programmer or company to make them for
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177 him. Users will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company
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178 which owns the sources and is in sole position to make changes.
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179
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180 Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment
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181 by encouraging all students to study and improve the system code.
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182 Harvard's computer lab used to have the policy that no program could be
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183 installed on the system if its sources were not on public display, and
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184 upheld it by actually refusing to install certain programs. I was very
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185 much inspired by this.
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186
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187 Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software
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188 and what one is or is not entitled to do with it will be lifted.
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189
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190 Arrangements to make people pay for using a program, including
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191 licensing of copies, always incur a tremendous cost to society through
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192 the cumbersome mechanisms necessary to figure out how much (that is,
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193 which programs) a person must pay for. And only a police state can
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194 force everyone to obey them. Consider a space station where air must
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195 be manufactured at great cost: charging each breather per liter of air
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196 may be fair, but wearing the metered gas mask all day and all night is
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197 intolerable even if everyone can afford to pay the air bill. And the
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198 TV cameras everywhere to see if you ever take the mask off are
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199 outrageous. It's better to support the air plant with a head tax and
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200 chuck the masks.
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201
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202 Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as
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203 breathing, and as productive. It ought to be as free.
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204
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205 Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU's Goals
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206 ==============================================
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207
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208 "Nobody will use it if it is free, because that means they can't
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209 rely on any support."
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210
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211 "You have to charge for the program to pay for providing the
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212 support."
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213
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214 If people would rather pay for GNU plus service than get GNU free
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215 without service, a company to provide just service to people who have
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216 obtained GNU free ought to be profitable.(3)
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217
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218 We must distinguish between support in the form of real programming
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219 work and mere handholding. The former is something one cannot rely on
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220 from a software vendor. If your problem is not shared by enough
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221 people, the vendor will tell you to get lost.
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222
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223 If your business needs to be able to rely on support, the only way
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224 is to have all the necessary sources and tools. Then you can hire any
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225 available person to fix your problem; you are not at the mercy of any
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226 individual. With Unix, the price of sources puts this out of
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227 consideration for most businesses. With GNU this will be easy. It is
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228 still possible for there to be no available competent person, but this
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229 problem cannot be blamed on distribution arrangements. GNU does not
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230 eliminate all the world's problems, only some of them.
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231
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232 Meanwhile, the users who know nothing about computers need
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233 handholding: doing things for them which they could easily do
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234 themselves but don't know how.
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235
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236 Such services could be provided by companies that sell just
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237 hand-holding and repair service. If it is true that users would rather
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238 spend money and get a product with service, they will also be willing
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239 to buy the service having got the product free. The service companies
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240 will compete in quality and price; users will not be tied to any
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241 particular one. Meanwhile, those of us who don't need the service
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242 should be able to use the program without paying for the service.
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243
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244 "You cannot reach many people without advertising, and you must
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245 charge for the program to support that."
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246
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247 "It's no use advertising a program people can get free."
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248
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249 There are various forms of free or very cheap publicity that can be
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250 used to inform numbers of computer users about something like GNU. But
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251 it may be true that one can reach more microcomputer users with
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252 advertising. If this is really so, a business which advertises the
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253 service of copying and mailing GNU for a fee ought to be successful
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254 enough to pay for its advertising and more. This way, only the users
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255 who benefit from the advertising pay for it.
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256
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257 On the other hand, if many people get GNU from their friends, and
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258 such companies don't succeed, this will show that advertising was not
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259 really necessary to spread GNU. Why is it that free market advocates
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260 don't want to let the free market decide this?(4)
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261
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262 "My company needs a proprietary operating system to get a
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263 competitive edge."
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264
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265 GNU will remove operating system software from the realm of
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266 competition. You will not be able to get an edge in this area, but
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267 neither will your competitors be able to get an edge over you. You and
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268 they will compete in other areas, while benefiting mutually in this
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269 one. If your business is selling an operating system, you will not
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270 like GNU, but that's tough on you. If your business is something else,
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271 GNU can save you from being pushed into the expensive business of
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272 selling operating systems.
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273
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274 I would like to see GNU development supported by gifts from many
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275 manufacturers and users, reducing the cost to each.(5)
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276
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277 "Don't programmers deserve a reward for their creativity?"
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278
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279 If anything deserves a reward, it is social contribution.
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280 Creativity can be a social contribution, but only in so far as society
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281 is free to use the results. If programmers deserve to be rewarded for
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282 creating innovative programs, by the same token they deserve to be
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283 punished if they restrict the use of these programs.
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284
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285 "Shouldn't a programmer be able to ask for a reward for his
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286 creativity?"
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287
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288 There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to
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289 maximize one's income, as long as one does not use means that are
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290 destructive. But the means customary in the field of software today
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291 are based on destruction.
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292
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293 Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of
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294 it is destructive because the restrictions reduce the amount and the
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295 ways that the program can be used. This reduces the amount of wealth
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296 that humanity derives from the program. When there is a deliberate
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297 choice to restrict, the harmful consequences are deliberate destruction.
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298
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299 The reason a good citizen does not use such destructive means to
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300 become wealthier is that, if everyone did so, we would all become
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301 poorer from the mutual destructiveness. This is Kantian ethics; or,
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302 the Golden Rule. Since I do not like the consequences that result if
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303 everyone hoards information, I am required to consider it wrong for one
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304 to do so. Specifically, the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity
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305 does not justify depriving the world in general of all or part of that
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306 creativity.
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307
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308 "Won't programmers starve?"
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309
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310 I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer. Most of us
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311 cannot manage to get any money for standing on the street and making
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312 faces. But we are not, as a result, condemned to spend our lives
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313 standing on the street making faces, and starving. We do something
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314 else.
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315
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316 But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner's
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317 implicit assumption: that without ownership of software, programmers
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318 cannot possibly be paid a cent. Supposedly it is all or nothing.
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319
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320 The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be
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321 possible for them to get paid for programming; just not paid as much as
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322 now.
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323
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324 Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software.
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325 It is the most common basis because it brings in the most money. If it
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326 were prohibited, or rejected by the customer, software business would
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327 move to other bases of organization which are now used less often.
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328 There are always numerous ways to organize any kind of business.
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329
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330 Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it
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331 is now. But that is not an argument against the change. It is not
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332 considered an injustice that sales clerks make the salaries that they
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333 now do. If programmers made the same, that would not be an injustice
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334 either. (In practice they would still make considerably more than
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335 that.)
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336
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337 "Don't people have a right to control how their creativity is
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338 used?"
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339
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340 "Control over the use of one's ideas" really constitutes control over
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341 other people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more
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342 difficult.
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343
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344 People who have studied the issue of intellectual property rights
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345 carefully (such as lawyers) say that there is no intrinsic right to
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346 intellectual property. The kinds of supposed intellectual property
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347 rights that the government recognizes were created by specific acts of
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348 legislation for specific purposes.
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349
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350 For example, the patent system was established to encourage
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351 inventors to disclose the details of their inventions. Its purpose was
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352 to help society rather than to help inventors. At the time, the life
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353 span of 17 years for a patent was short compared with the rate of
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354 advance of the state of the art. Since patents are an issue only among
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355 manufacturers, for whom the cost and effort of a license agreement are
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356 small compared with setting up production, the patents often do not do
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357 much harm. They do not obstruct most individuals who use patented
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358 products.
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359
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360 The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors
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361 frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction. This
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362 practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have
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363 survived even in part. The copyright system was created expressly for
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364 the purpose of encouraging authorship. In the domain for which it was
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365 invented--books, which could be copied economically only on a printing
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366 press--it did little harm, and did not obstruct most of the individuals
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367 who read the books.
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368
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369 All intellectual property rights are just licenses granted by society
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370 because it was thought, rightly or wrongly, that society as a whole
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371 would benefit by granting them. But in any particular situation, we
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372 have to ask: are we really better off granting such license? What kind
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373 of act are we licensing a person to do?
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374
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375 The case of programs today is very different from that of books a
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376 hundred years ago. The fact that the easiest way to copy a program is
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377 from one neighbor to another, the fact that a program has both source
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378 code and object code which are distinct, and the fact that a program is
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379 used rather than read and enjoyed, combine to create a situation in
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380 which a person who enforces a copyright is harming society as a whole
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381 both materially and spiritually; in which a person should not do so
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382 regardless of whether the law enables him to.
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383
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384 "Competition makes things get done better."
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385
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386 The paradigm of competition is a race: by rewarding the winner, we
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387 encourage everyone to run faster. When capitalism really works this
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388 way, it does a good job; but its defenders are wrong in assuming it
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389 always works this way. If the runners forget why the reward is offered
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390 and become intent on winning, no matter how, they may find other
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391 strategies--such as, attacking other runners. If the runners get into
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392 a fist fight, they will all finish late.
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393
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394 Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners
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395 in a fist fight. Sad to say, the only referee we've got does not seem
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396 to object to fights; he just regulates them ("For every ten yards you
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397 run, you can fire one shot"). He really ought to break them up, and
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398 penalize runners for even trying to fight.
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399
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400 "Won't everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?"
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401
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402 Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary
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403 incentive. Programming has an irresistible fascination for some
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404 people, usually the people who are best at it. There is no shortage of
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405 professional musicians who keep at it even though they have no hope of
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406 making a living that way.
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407
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408 But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate
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409 to the situation. Pay for programmers will not disappear, only become
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410 less. So the right question is, will anyone program with a reduced
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411 monetary incentive? My experience shows that they will.
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412
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413 For more than ten years, many of the world's best programmers worked
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414 at the Artificial Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could
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415 have had anywhere else. They got many kinds of non-monetary rewards:
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416 fame and appreciation, for example. And creativity is also fun, a
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417 reward in itself.
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418
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419 Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same
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420 interesting work for a lot of money.
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421
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422 What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other
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423 than riches; but if given a chance to make a lot of money as well, they
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424 will come to expect and demand it. Low-paying organizations do poorly
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425 in competition with high-paying ones, but they do not have to do badly
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426 if the high-paying ones are banned.
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427
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428 "We need the programmers desperately. If they demand that we stop
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429 helping our neighbors, we have to obey."
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430
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431 You're never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand.
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432 Remember: millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute!
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433
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434 "Programmers need to make a living somehow."
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435
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436 In the short run, this is true. However, there are plenty of ways
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437 that programmers could make a living without selling the right to use a
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438 program. This way is customary now because it brings programmers and
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439 businessmen the most money, not because it is the only way to make a
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440 living. It is easy to find other ways if you want to find them. Here
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441 are a number of examples.
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442
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443 A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of
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444 operating systems onto the new hardware.
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445
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446 The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could
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447 also employ programmers.
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448
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449 People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware, asking
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450 for donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services.
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451 I have met people who are already working this way successfully.
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452
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453 Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues. A
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454 group would contract with programming companies to write programs that
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455 the group's members would like to use.
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456
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457 All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax:
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458
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459 Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay x percent of the
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460 price as a software tax. The government gives this to an agency
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461 like the NSF to spend on software development.
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462
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463 But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development
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464 himself, he can take a credit against the tax. He can donate to
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465 the project of his own choosing--often, chosen because he hopes to
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466 use the results when it is done. He can take a credit for any
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467 amount of donation up to the total tax he had to pay.
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468
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469 The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of the
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470 tax, weighted according to the amount they will be taxed on.
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471
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472 The consequences:
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473
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474 * The computer-using community supports software development.
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475
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476 * This community decides what level of support is needed.
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477
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478 * Users who care which projects their share is spent on can
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479 choose this for themselves.
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480
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481 In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the
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482 post-scarcity world, where nobody will have to work very hard just to
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483 make a living. People will be free to devote themselves to activities
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484 that are fun, such as programming, after spending the necessary ten
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485 hours a week on required tasks such as legislation, family counseling,
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486 robot repair and asteroid prospecting. There will be no need to be
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487 able to make a living from programming.
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488
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489 We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole
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490 society must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this
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491 has translated itself into leisure for workers because much
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492 nonproductive activity is required to accompany productive activity.
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493 The main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against
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494 competition. Free software will greatly reduce these drains in the
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495 area of software production. We must do this, in order for technical
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496 gains in productivity to translate into less work for us.
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497
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498 ---------- Footnotes ----------
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499
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500 (1) The wording here was careless. The intention was that nobody
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501 would have to pay for *permission* to use the GNU system. But the
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502 words don't make this clear, and people often interpret them as saying
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503 that copies of GNU should always be distributed at little or no charge.
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504 That was never the intent; later on, the manifesto mentions the
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505 possibility of companies providing the service of distribution for a
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506 profit. Subsequently I have learned to distinguish carefully between
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507 "free" in the sense of freedom and "free" in the sense of price. Free
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508 software is software that users have the freedom to distribute and
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509 change. Some users may obtain copies at no charge, while others pay to
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510 obtain copies--and if the funds help support improving the software, so
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511 much the better. The important thing is that everyone who has a copy
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512 has the freedom to cooperate with others in using it.
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513
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514 (2) This is another place I failed to distinguish carefully between
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515 the two different meanings of "free". The statement as it stands is
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516 not false--you can get copies of GNU software at no charge, from your
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517 friends or over the net. But it does suggest the wrong idea.
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518
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519 (3) Several such companies now exist.
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520
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521 (4) The Free Software Foundation raises most of its funds from a
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522 distribution service, although it is a charity rather than a company.
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523 If *no one* chooses to obtain copies by ordering from the FSF, it
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524 will be unable to do its work. But this does not mean that proprietary
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525 restrictions are justified to force every user to pay. If a small
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526 fraction of all the users order copies from the FSF, that is sufficient
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527 to keep the FSF afloat. So we ask users to choose to support us in
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528 this way. Have you done your part?
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529
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530 (5) A group of computer companies recently pooled funds to support
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531 maintenance of the GNU C Compiler.
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532