comparison etc/GNU @ 90182:f042e7c0fe20

Revision: [e-mail]--gnu-2005/emacs--unicode--0--patch-53 Merge from emacs--cvs-trunk--0 Patches applied: * emacs--cvs-trunk--0 (patch 302-319) - Update from CVS - Merge from gnus--rel--5.10 * gnus--rel--5.10 (patch 69) - Update from CVS

90181:0c828e2b0b6f

Copyright (C) 1985, 1993, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
of this document, in any medium, provided that the copyright notice and
permission notice are preserved, and that the distributor grants the
recipient permission for further redistribution as permitted by this

operating systems onto the new hardware.

   The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could
also employ programmers.

   People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware, asking
for donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services.
I have met people who are already working this way successfully.

   Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues.  A
group would contract with programming companies to write programs that

not false--you can get copies of GNU software at no charge, from your
friends or over the net.  But it does suggest the wrong idea.

   (3)  Several such companies now exist.

   (4)  The Free Software Foundation raises most of its funds from a
distribution service, although it is a charity rather than a company.
If *no one* chooses to obtain copies by ordering from the FSF, it
will be unable to do its work.  But this does not mean that proprietary
restrictions are justified to force every user to pay.  If a small
fraction of all the users order copies from the FSF, that is sufficient
to keep the FSF afloat.  So we ask users to choose to support us in
this way.  Have you done your part?

   (5)  A group of computer companies recently pooled funds to support
maintenance of the GNU C Compiler.

   (6) In the 80s I had not yet realized how confusing it was to speak
of "the issue" of "intellectual property".  That term is obviously
biased; more subtle is the fact that it lumps together various
disparate laws which raise very different issues.  Nowadays I urge
people to reject the term "intellectual property" entirely, lest it
lead others to suppose this is one coherent issue.  The way to be
clear is to to discuss patents, copyrights, and trademarks separately.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html.

90182:f042e7c0fe20

Copyright (C) 1985, 1993, 2003, 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
of this document, in any medium, provided that the copyright notice and
permission notice are preserved, and that the distributor grants the
recipient permission for further redistribution as permitted by this

operating systems onto the new hardware.

   The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could
also employ programmers.

   People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware(7), asking
for donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services.
I have met people who are already working this way successfully.

   Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues.  A
group would contract with programming companies to write programs that

not false--you can get copies of GNU software at no charge, from your
friends or over the net.  But it does suggest the wrong idea.

   (3)  Several such companies now exist.

   (4)  The Free Software Foundation raised most of its funds for 10
years from a distribution service, although it is a charity rather
than a company.

   (5) A group of computer companies pooled funds around 1991 to
support maintenance of the GNU C Compiler.

   (6) In the 80s I had not yet realized how confusing it was to speak
of "the issue" of "intellectual property".  That term is obviously
biased; more subtle is the fact that it lumps together various
disparate laws which raise very different issues.  Nowadays I urge
people to reject the term "intellectual property" entirely, lest it
lead others to suppose that those laws form one coherent issue.  The way to be
clear is to to discuss patents, copyrights, and trademarks separately.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml for more explanation
of how this term spreads confusion and bias.

   (7) In 1985 I had not yet recognized the importance of distinguishing
between "free software" and "freeware".  The term "freeware" means
software you are free to redistribute, but usually you are not free to study
and change the source code, so most of it is not free software.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html for more
explanation.