Mercurial > emacs
annotate etc/GNU @ 56008:fc83acd9c428
*** empty log message ***
author | Juri Linkov <juri@jurta.org> |
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date | Thu, 10 Jun 2004 04:23:52 +0000 |
parents | 58aa022ecd15 |
children | b74315cd6017 |
rev | line source |
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53692 | 1 Copyright (C) 1985, 1993, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
26119 | 2 |
3 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies | |
4 of this document, in any medium, provided that the copyright notice and | |
5 permission notice are preserved, and that the distributor grants the | |
6 recipient permission for further redistribution as permitted by this | |
7 notice. | |
8 | |
9 Modified versions may not be made. | |
10 | |
11 The GNU Manifesto | |
12 ***************** | |
13 | |
14 The GNU Manifesto which appears below was written by Richard | |
15 Stallman at the beginning of the GNU project, to ask for | |
16 participation and support. For the first few years, it was | |
17 updated in minor ways to account for developments, but now it | |
18 seems best to leave it unchanged as most people have seen it. | |
19 | |
20 Since that time, we have learned about certain common | |
21 misunderstandings that different wording could help avoid. | |
22 Footnotes added in 1993 help clarify these points. | |
23 | |
24 For up-to-date information about the available GNU software, | |
25 please see the latest issue of the GNU's Bulletin. The list is | |
26 much too long to include here. | |
27 | |
28 What's GNU? Gnu's Not Unix! | |
29 ============================ | |
30 | |
31 GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete | |
32 Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it | |
33 away free to everyone who can use it.(1) Several other volunteers are | |
34 helping me. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are | |
35 greatly needed. | |
36 | |
37 So far we have an Emacs text editor with Lisp for writing editor | |
38 commands, a source level debugger, a yacc-compatible parser generator, | |
39 a linker, and around 35 utilities. A shell (command interpreter) is | |
40 nearly completed. A new portable optimizing C compiler has compiled | |
41 itself and may be released this year. An initial kernel exists but | |
42 many more features are needed to emulate Unix. When the kernel and | |
43 compiler are finished, it will be possible to distribute a GNU system | |
44 suitable for program development. We will use TeX as our text | |
45 formatter, but an nroff is being worked on. We will use the free, | |
46 portable X window system as well. After this we will add a portable | |
47 Common Lisp, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of other | |
48 things, plus on-line documentation. We hope to supply, eventually, | |
49 everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and more. | |
50 | |
51 GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to | |
52 Unix. We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our | |
53 experience with other operating systems. In particular, we plan to | |
54 have longer file names, file version numbers, a crashproof file system, | |
55 file name completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and | |
56 perhaps eventually a Lisp-based window system through which several | |
57 Lisp programs and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen. Both C | |
58 and Lisp will be available as system programming languages. We will | |
59 try to support UUCP, MIT Chaosnet, and Internet protocols for | |
60 communication. | |
61 | |
62 GNU is aimed initially at machines in the 68000/16000 class with | |
63 virtual memory, because they are the easiest machines to make it run | |
64 on. The extra effort to make it run on smaller machines will be left | |
65 to someone who wants to use it on them. | |
66 | |
67 To avoid horrible confusion, please pronounce the `G' in the word | |
68 `GNU' when it is the name of this project. | |
69 | |
70 Why I Must Write GNU | |
71 ==================== | |
72 | |
73 I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I | |
74 must share it with other people who like it. Software sellers want to | |
75 divide the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share | |
76 with others. I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this | |
77 way. I cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a | |
78 software license agreement. For years I worked within the Artificial | |
79 Intelligence Lab to resist such tendencies and other inhospitalities, | |
80 but eventually they had gone too far: I could not remain in an | |
81 institution where such things are done for me against my will. | |
82 | |
83 So that I can continue to use computers without dishonor, I have | |
84 decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that I | |
85 will be able to get along without any software that is not free. I | |
86 have resigned from the AI lab to deny MIT any legal excuse to prevent | |
87 me from giving GNU away. | |
88 | |
89 Why GNU Will Be Compatible with Unix | |
90 ==================================== | |
91 | |
92 Unix is not my ideal system, but it is not too bad. The essential | |
93 features of Unix seem to be good ones, and I think I can fill in what | |
94 Unix lacks without spoiling them. And a system compatible with Unix | |
95 would be convenient for many other people to adopt. | |
96 | |
97 How GNU Will Be Available | |
98 ========================= | |
99 | |
100 GNU is not in the public domain. Everyone will be permitted to | |
101 modify and redistribute GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to | |
102 restrict its further redistribution. That is to say, proprietary | |
103 modifications will not be allowed. I want to make sure that all | |
104 versions of GNU remain free. | |
105 | |
106 Why Many Other Programmers Want to Help | |
107 ======================================= | |
108 | |
109 I have found many other programmers who are excited about GNU and | |
110 want to help. | |
111 | |
112 Many programmers are unhappy about the commercialization of system | |
113 software. It may enable them to make more money, but it requires them | |
114 to feel in conflict with other programmers in general rather than feel | |
115 as comrades. The fundamental act of friendship among programmers is the | |
116 sharing of programs; marketing arrangements now typically used | |
117 essentially forbid programmers to treat others as friends. The | |
118 purchaser of software must choose between friendship and obeying the | |
119 law. Naturally, many decide that friendship is more important. But | |
120 those who believe in law often do not feel at ease with either choice. | |
121 They become cynical and think that programming is just a way of making | |
122 money. | |
123 | |
124 By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can | |
125 be hospitable to everyone and obey the law. In addition, GNU serves as | |
126 an example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in | |
127 sharing. This can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if | |
128 we use software that is not free. For about half the programmers I | |
129 talk to, this is an important happiness that money cannot replace. | |
130 | |
131 How You Can Contribute | |
132 ====================== | |
133 | |
134 I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and | |
135 money. I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work. | |
136 | |
137 One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU | |
138 will run on them at an early date. The machines should be complete, | |
139 ready to use systems, approved for use in a residential area, and not | |
140 in need of sophisticated cooling or power. | |
141 | |
142 I have found very many programmers eager to contribute part-time | |
143 work for GNU. For most projects, such part-time distributed work would | |
144 be very hard to coordinate; the independently-written parts would not | |
145 work together. But for the particular task of replacing Unix, this | |
146 problem is absent. A complete Unix system contains hundreds of utility | |
147 programs, each of which is documented separately. Most interface | |
148 specifications are fixed by Unix compatibility. If each contributor | |
149 can write a compatible replacement for a single Unix utility, and make | |
150 it work properly in place of the original on a Unix system, then these | |
151 utilities will work right when put together. Even allowing for Murphy | |
152 to create a few unexpected problems, assembling these components will | |
153 be a feasible task. (The kernel will require closer communication and | |
154 will be worked on by a small, tight group.) | |
155 | |
156 If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full | |
157 or part time. The salary won't be high by programmers' standards, but | |
158 I'm looking for people for whom building community spirit is as | |
159 important as making money. I view this as a way of enabling dedicated | |
160 people to devote their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them | |
161 the need to make a living in another way. | |
162 | |
163 Why All Computer Users Will Benefit | |
164 =================================== | |
165 | |
166 Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system | |
167 software free, just like air.(2) | |
168 | |
169 This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix | |
170 license. It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming | |
171 effort will be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the | |
172 state of the art. | |
173 | |
174 Complete system sources will be available to everyone. As a result, | |
175 a user who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them | |
176 himself, or hire any available programmer or company to make them for | |
177 him. Users will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company | |
178 which owns the sources and is in sole position to make changes. | |
179 | |
180 Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment | |
181 by encouraging all students to study and improve the system code. | |
182 Harvard's computer lab used to have the policy that no program could be | |
183 installed on the system if its sources were not on public display, and | |
184 upheld it by actually refusing to install certain programs. I was very | |
185 much inspired by this. | |
186 | |
187 Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software | |
188 and what one is or is not entitled to do with it will be lifted. | |
189 | |
190 Arrangements to make people pay for using a program, including | |
191 licensing of copies, always incur a tremendous cost to society through | |
192 the cumbersome mechanisms necessary to figure out how much (that is, | |
193 which programs) a person must pay for. And only a police state can | |
194 force everyone to obey them. Consider a space station where air must | |
195 be manufactured at great cost: charging each breather per liter of air | |
196 may be fair, but wearing the metered gas mask all day and all night is | |
197 intolerable even if everyone can afford to pay the air bill. And the | |
198 TV cameras everywhere to see if you ever take the mask off are | |
199 outrageous. It's better to support the air plant with a head tax and | |
200 chuck the masks. | |
201 | |
202 Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as | |
203 breathing, and as productive. It ought to be as free. | |
204 | |
205 Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU's Goals | |
206 ============================================== | |
207 | |
208 "Nobody will use it if it is free, because that means they can't | |
209 rely on any support." | |
210 | |
211 "You have to charge for the program to pay for providing the | |
212 support." | |
213 | |
214 If people would rather pay for GNU plus service than get GNU free | |
215 without service, a company to provide just service to people who have | |
216 obtained GNU free ought to be profitable.(3) | |
217 | |
218 We must distinguish between support in the form of real programming | |
219 work and mere handholding. The former is something one cannot rely on | |
220 from a software vendor. If your problem is not shared by enough | |
221 people, the vendor will tell you to get lost. | |
222 | |
223 If your business needs to be able to rely on support, the only way | |
224 is to have all the necessary sources and tools. Then you can hire any | |
225 available person to fix your problem; you are not at the mercy of any | |
226 individual. With Unix, the price of sources puts this out of | |
227 consideration for most businesses. With GNU this will be easy. It is | |
228 still possible for there to be no available competent person, but this | |
229 problem cannot be blamed on distribution arrangements. GNU does not | |
230 eliminate all the world's problems, only some of them. | |
231 | |
232 Meanwhile, the users who know nothing about computers need | |
233 handholding: doing things for them which they could easily do | |
234 themselves but don't know how. | |
235 | |
236 Such services could be provided by companies that sell just | |
237 hand-holding and repair service. If it is true that users would rather | |
238 spend money and get a product with service, they will also be willing | |
239 to buy the service having got the product free. The service companies | |
240 will compete in quality and price; users will not be tied to any | |
241 particular one. Meanwhile, those of us who don't need the service | |
242 should be able to use the program without paying for the service. | |
243 | |
244 "You cannot reach many people without advertising, and you must | |
245 charge for the program to support that." | |
246 | |
247 "It's no use advertising a program people can get free." | |
248 | |
249 There are various forms of free or very cheap publicity that can be | |
250 used to inform numbers of computer users about something like GNU. But | |
251 it may be true that one can reach more microcomputer users with | |
252 advertising. If this is really so, a business which advertises the | |
253 service of copying and mailing GNU for a fee ought to be successful | |
254 enough to pay for its advertising and more. This way, only the users | |
255 who benefit from the advertising pay for it. | |
256 | |
257 On the other hand, if many people get GNU from their friends, and | |
258 such companies don't succeed, this will show that advertising was not | |
259 really necessary to spread GNU. Why is it that free market advocates | |
260 don't want to let the free market decide this?(4) | |
261 | |
262 "My company needs a proprietary operating system to get a | |
263 competitive edge." | |
264 | |
265 GNU will remove operating system software from the realm of | |
266 competition. You will not be able to get an edge in this area, but | |
267 neither will your competitors be able to get an edge over you. You and | |
268 they will compete in other areas, while benefiting mutually in this | |
269 one. If your business is selling an operating system, you will not | |
270 like GNU, but that's tough on you. If your business is something else, | |
271 GNU can save you from being pushed into the expensive business of | |
272 selling operating systems. | |
273 | |
274 I would like to see GNU development supported by gifts from many | |
275 manufacturers and users, reducing the cost to each.(5) | |
276 | |
277 "Don't programmers deserve a reward for their creativity?" | |
278 | |
279 If anything deserves a reward, it is social contribution. | |
280 Creativity can be a social contribution, but only in so far as society | |
281 is free to use the results. If programmers deserve to be rewarded for | |
282 creating innovative programs, by the same token they deserve to be | |
283 punished if they restrict the use of these programs. | |
284 | |
285 "Shouldn't a programmer be able to ask for a reward for his | |
286 creativity?" | |
287 | |
288 There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to | |
289 maximize one's income, as long as one does not use means that are | |
290 destructive. But the means customary in the field of software today | |
291 are based on destruction. | |
292 | |
293 Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of | |
294 it is destructive because the restrictions reduce the amount and the | |
295 ways that the program can be used. This reduces the amount of wealth | |
296 that humanity derives from the program. When there is a deliberate | |
297 choice to restrict, the harmful consequences are deliberate destruction. | |
298 | |
299 The reason a good citizen does not use such destructive means to | |
300 become wealthier is that, if everyone did so, we would all become | |
301 poorer from the mutual destructiveness. This is Kantian ethics; or, | |
302 the Golden Rule. Since I do not like the consequences that result if | |
303 everyone hoards information, I am required to consider it wrong for one | |
304 to do so. Specifically, the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity | |
305 does not justify depriving the world in general of all or part of that | |
306 creativity. | |
307 | |
308 "Won't programmers starve?" | |
309 | |
310 I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer. Most of us | |
311 cannot manage to get any money for standing on the street and making | |
312 faces. But we are not, as a result, condemned to spend our lives | |
313 standing on the street making faces, and starving. We do something | |
314 else. | |
315 | |
316 But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner's | |
317 implicit assumption: that without ownership of software, programmers | |
318 cannot possibly be paid a cent. Supposedly it is all or nothing. | |
319 | |
320 The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be | |
321 possible for them to get paid for programming; just not paid as much as | |
322 now. | |
323 | |
324 Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software. | |
325 It is the most common basis because it brings in the most money. If it | |
326 were prohibited, or rejected by the customer, software business would | |
327 move to other bases of organization which are now used less often. | |
328 There are always numerous ways to organize any kind of business. | |
329 | |
330 Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it | |
331 is now. But that is not an argument against the change. It is not | |
332 considered an injustice that sales clerks make the salaries that they | |
333 now do. If programmers made the same, that would not be an injustice | |
334 either. (In practice they would still make considerably more than | |
335 that.) | |
336 | |
337 "Don't people have a right to control how their creativity is | |
338 used?" | |
339 | |
340 "Control over the use of one's ideas" really constitutes control over | |
341 other people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more | |
342 difficult. | |
343 | |
53691
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Add footnote about "intellectual property rights".
Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
parents:
26119
diff
changeset
|
344 People who have studied the issue of intellectual property rights(6) |
26119 | 345 carefully (such as lawyers) say that there is no intrinsic right to |
346 intellectual property. The kinds of supposed intellectual property | |
347 rights that the government recognizes were created by specific acts of | |
348 legislation for specific purposes. | |
349 | |
350 For example, the patent system was established to encourage | |
351 inventors to disclose the details of their inventions. Its purpose was | |
352 to help society rather than to help inventors. At the time, the life | |
353 span of 17 years for a patent was short compared with the rate of | |
354 advance of the state of the art. Since patents are an issue only among | |
355 manufacturers, for whom the cost and effort of a license agreement are | |
356 small compared with setting up production, the patents often do not do | |
357 much harm. They do not obstruct most individuals who use patented | |
358 products. | |
359 | |
360 The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors | |
361 frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction. This | |
362 practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have | |
363 survived even in part. The copyright system was created expressly for | |
364 the purpose of encouraging authorship. In the domain for which it was | |
365 invented--books, which could be copied economically only on a printing | |
366 press--it did little harm, and did not obstruct most of the individuals | |
367 who read the books. | |
368 | |
369 All intellectual property rights are just licenses granted by society | |
370 because it was thought, rightly or wrongly, that society as a whole | |
371 would benefit by granting them. But in any particular situation, we | |
372 have to ask: are we really better off granting such license? What kind | |
373 of act are we licensing a person to do? | |
374 | |
375 The case of programs today is very different from that of books a | |
376 hundred years ago. The fact that the easiest way to copy a program is | |
377 from one neighbor to another, the fact that a program has both source | |
378 code and object code which are distinct, and the fact that a program is | |
379 used rather than read and enjoyed, combine to create a situation in | |
380 which a person who enforces a copyright is harming society as a whole | |
381 both materially and spiritually; in which a person should not do so | |
382 regardless of whether the law enables him to. | |
383 | |
384 "Competition makes things get done better." | |
385 | |
386 The paradigm of competition is a race: by rewarding the winner, we | |
387 encourage everyone to run faster. When capitalism really works this | |
388 way, it does a good job; but its defenders are wrong in assuming it | |
389 always works this way. If the runners forget why the reward is offered | |
390 and become intent on winning, no matter how, they may find other | |
391 strategies--such as, attacking other runners. If the runners get into | |
392 a fist fight, they will all finish late. | |
393 | |
394 Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners | |
395 in a fist fight. Sad to say, the only referee we've got does not seem | |
396 to object to fights; he just regulates them ("For every ten yards you | |
397 run, you can fire one shot"). He really ought to break them up, and | |
398 penalize runners for even trying to fight. | |
399 | |
400 "Won't everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?" | |
401 | |
402 Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary | |
403 incentive. Programming has an irresistible fascination for some | |
404 people, usually the people who are best at it. There is no shortage of | |
405 professional musicians who keep at it even though they have no hope of | |
406 making a living that way. | |
407 | |
408 But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate | |
409 to the situation. Pay for programmers will not disappear, only become | |
410 less. So the right question is, will anyone program with a reduced | |
411 monetary incentive? My experience shows that they will. | |
412 | |
413 For more than ten years, many of the world's best programmers worked | |
414 at the Artificial Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could | |
415 have had anywhere else. They got many kinds of non-monetary rewards: | |
416 fame and appreciation, for example. And creativity is also fun, a | |
417 reward in itself. | |
418 | |
419 Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same | |
420 interesting work for a lot of money. | |
421 | |
422 What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other | |
423 than riches; but if given a chance to make a lot of money as well, they | |
424 will come to expect and demand it. Low-paying organizations do poorly | |
425 in competition with high-paying ones, but they do not have to do badly | |
426 if the high-paying ones are banned. | |
427 | |
428 "We need the programmers desperately. If they demand that we stop | |
429 helping our neighbors, we have to obey." | |
430 | |
431 You're never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand. | |
432 Remember: millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute! | |
433 | |
434 "Programmers need to make a living somehow." | |
435 | |
436 In the short run, this is true. However, there are plenty of ways | |
437 that programmers could make a living without selling the right to use a | |
438 program. This way is customary now because it brings programmers and | |
439 businessmen the most money, not because it is the only way to make a | |
440 living. It is easy to find other ways if you want to find them. Here | |
441 are a number of examples. | |
442 | |
443 A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of | |
444 operating systems onto the new hardware. | |
445 | |
446 The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could | |
447 also employ programmers. | |
448 | |
449 People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware, asking | |
450 for donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services. | |
451 I have met people who are already working this way successfully. | |
452 | |
453 Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues. A | |
454 group would contract with programming companies to write programs that | |
455 the group's members would like to use. | |
456 | |
457 All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax: | |
458 | |
459 Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay x percent of the | |
460 price as a software tax. The government gives this to an agency | |
461 like the NSF to spend on software development. | |
462 | |
463 But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development | |
464 himself, he can take a credit against the tax. He can donate to | |
465 the project of his own choosing--often, chosen because he hopes to | |
466 use the results when it is done. He can take a credit for any | |
467 amount of donation up to the total tax he had to pay. | |
468 | |
469 The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of the | |
470 tax, weighted according to the amount they will be taxed on. | |
471 | |
472 The consequences: | |
473 | |
474 * The computer-using community supports software development. | |
475 | |
476 * This community decides what level of support is needed. | |
477 | |
478 * Users who care which projects their share is spent on can | |
479 choose this for themselves. | |
480 | |
481 In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the | |
482 post-scarcity world, where nobody will have to work very hard just to | |
483 make a living. People will be free to devote themselves to activities | |
484 that are fun, such as programming, after spending the necessary ten | |
485 hours a week on required tasks such as legislation, family counseling, | |
486 robot repair and asteroid prospecting. There will be no need to be | |
487 able to make a living from programming. | |
488 | |
489 We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole | |
490 society must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this | |
491 has translated itself into leisure for workers because much | |
492 nonproductive activity is required to accompany productive activity. | |
493 The main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against | |
494 competition. Free software will greatly reduce these drains in the | |
495 area of software production. We must do this, in order for technical | |
496 gains in productivity to translate into less work for us. | |
497 | |
498 ---------- Footnotes ---------- | |
499 | |
500 (1) The wording here was careless. The intention was that nobody | |
501 would have to pay for *permission* to use the GNU system. But the | |
502 words don't make this clear, and people often interpret them as saying | |
503 that copies of GNU should always be distributed at little or no charge. | |
504 That was never the intent; later on, the manifesto mentions the | |
505 possibility of companies providing the service of distribution for a | |
506 profit. Subsequently I have learned to distinguish carefully between | |
507 "free" in the sense of freedom and "free" in the sense of price. Free | |
508 software is software that users have the freedom to distribute and | |
509 change. Some users may obtain copies at no charge, while others pay to | |
510 obtain copies--and if the funds help support improving the software, so | |
511 much the better. The important thing is that everyone who has a copy | |
512 has the freedom to cooperate with others in using it. | |
513 | |
514 (2) This is another place I failed to distinguish carefully between | |
515 the two different meanings of "free". The statement as it stands is | |
516 not false--you can get copies of GNU software at no charge, from your | |
517 friends or over the net. But it does suggest the wrong idea. | |
518 | |
519 (3) Several such companies now exist. | |
520 | |
521 (4) The Free Software Foundation raises most of its funds from a | |
522 distribution service, although it is a charity rather than a company. | |
523 If *no one* chooses to obtain copies by ordering from the FSF, it | |
524 will be unable to do its work. But this does not mean that proprietary | |
525 restrictions are justified to force every user to pay. If a small | |
526 fraction of all the users order copies from the FSF, that is sufficient | |
527 to keep the FSF afloat. So we ask users to choose to support us in | |
528 this way. Have you done your part? | |
529 | |
530 (5) A group of computer companies recently pooled funds to support | |
531 maintenance of the GNU C Compiler. | |
532 | |
53691
3ef78eaf5dca
Add footnote about "intellectual property rights".
Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
parents:
26119
diff
changeset
|
533 (6) In the 80s I had not yet realized how confusing it was to speak |
3ef78eaf5dca
Add footnote about "intellectual property rights".
Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
parents:
26119
diff
changeset
|
534 of "the issue" of "intellectual property". That term is obviously |
3ef78eaf5dca
Add footnote about "intellectual property rights".
Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
parents:
26119
diff
changeset
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535 biased; more subtle is the fact that it lumps together various |
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Add footnote about "intellectual property rights".
Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
parents:
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536 disparate laws which raise very different issues. Nowadays I urge |
3ef78eaf5dca
Add footnote about "intellectual property rights".
Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
parents:
26119
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537 people to reject the term "intellectual property" entirely, lest it |
3ef78eaf5dca
Add footnote about "intellectual property rights".
Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
parents:
26119
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538 lead others to suppose this is one coherent issue. The way to be |
3ef78eaf5dca
Add footnote about "intellectual property rights".
Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
parents:
26119
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539 clear is to to discuss patents, copyrights, and trademarks separately. |
3ef78eaf5dca
Add footnote about "intellectual property rights".
Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
parents:
26119
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540 See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html. |