FREE SOFTWARE DOWNLOAD
This article is about free software as used in the sociopolitical free software movement; for non-free software distributed without charge, see freeware. 
Clockwise from top: The logo of the GNU Project (the GNU head), the Linux kernel mascot Tux the Penguin, and the FreeBSD daemonFree software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions only to ensure that end users have the same freedoms as the original authors.
To make software available as free software, the software has to be accompanied by a software licence saying that the copyright holder allows these acts (a free software licence), or be in the public domain, and the human readable form of the program (or source code) must be made available.
The free software movement was launched in 1983 to make these freedoms available to every computer user.
Everyone is free to sell copies of free software, to use it commercially, and to charge for distribution and modifications. Because anyone who has a copy may distribute the software at no cost, the software generally is available at no cost. Free software business models are usually based on adding value such as support, training, customisation, integration, or certification. However, free software does not allow for common business models that depend on a user having no choice but to pay for a license in order to lawfully use a software product.
Software that is not free is known as proprietary software or non-free software
Naming
Main article: Alternative terms for free software
The term, "free software", was coined by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation in the early 1980s.
Free software and "freeware" should not be confused. Freeware is software made available free of charge. From the late 1990s onward, some alternative terms for free software came into common usage, including "open source software", "software libre", "free, libre and open-source software" ("FLOSS"), and "free/open-source software".
The FSF recommend using the term "free software" and never "open source software" due to the conflicting aims of (in particular the open source community's lack of emphasis on software freedom) "Libre" is used to avoid the ambiguity of the word "free". However, this term is mostly used within the free software movement.
History
Main article: History of free software
In the 50s, 60s, and 70s, it was normal for computer users to have the freedoms provided by free software. Software was commonly shared by individuals who used computers and by hardware manufacturers who were glad that
people were making software that made their hardware useful. In the 70s and early 80s, companies started to use copyright to prohibit sharing software, and they began using technical measures such as only distributing binary copies to prevent computer users from being able to study and modify the software.
In 1983, Richard Stallman launched the GNU project after becoming frustrated with the effects of the change in culture of the computer industry and users. Software development for the GNU operating system began in January 1984, and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) was founded in October 1985. He introduced a free software definition and "copyleft", designed to ensure software freedom for all.
Free software is a huge international effort, producing software used by individuals, large organisations, and governmental administrations. Free software has a very high market penetration in server-side Internet applications such as the Apache web server, MySQL database, and PHP scripting language. Completely free computing environments are available as large packages of basic system software such as the many GNU/Linux distributions and the FreeBSD OS. Free software developers have also created free versions of almost all commonly used desktop applications such as web browsers, office productivity suites, and multimedia players. It is important to note, however, that in many categories, free software for individual workstation or home users has only a fraction of the market share of their proprietary competitors. Most free software is distributed online without charge, or off-line at the marginal cost of distribution, but this is not required, and people may sell copies for any price.
The economic advantages of the free software model have been recognised by large corporations such as IBM, Red Hat, and Sun Microsystems. Many companies whose core business is not in the IT sector choose free software for their Internet information and sales sites, due to the lower initial capital investment and ability to freely customize the
application packages. Also, some non-software industries are beginning to use techniques similar to those used in free software development for their research and development: scientists, for example, are looking towards more open development processes, and hardware such as microchips are beginning to be developed with specifications released under copyleft licenses (see the OpenCores project, for instance). Creative Commons and the free culture movement have also been largely influenced by the free software movement.
Definition
Main articles: The Free Software Definition, Debian Free Software Guidelines, and Open Source Definition
To help distinguish libre (freedom) software from gratis (zero price) software, Richard Stallman, founder of the free software movement, developed the following explanation: "Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of 'free' as in 'free speech', not as in 'free beer'"More specifically, free software means that computer users have the freedom to cooperate with whom they choose, and to control the software they use. The GNU Manifesto contains language that gives evidence of Stallman's initial confusion with the usage.
According to Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation, software is free software if people who receive a copy of the software have the following four freedoms:
Clockwise from top: The logo of the GNU Project (the GNU head), the Linux kernel mascot Tux the Penguin, and the FreeBSD daemonFree software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions only to ensure that end users have the same freedoms as the original authors.
To make software available as free software, the software has to be accompanied by a software licence saying that the copyright holder allows these acts (a free software licence), or be in the public domain, and the human readable form of the program (or source code) must be made available.
The free software movement was launched in 1983 to make these freedoms available to every computer user.
Everyone is free to sell copies of free software, to use it commercially, and to charge for distribution and modifications. Because anyone who has a copy may distribute the software at no cost, the software generally is available at no cost. Free software business models are usually based on adding value such as support, training, customisation, integration, or certification. However, free software does not allow for common business models that depend on a user having no choice but to pay for a license in order to lawfully use a software product.
Software that is not free is known as proprietary software or non-free software
Naming
Main article: Alternative terms for free software
The term, "free software", was coined by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation in the early 1980s.
Free software and "freeware" should not be confused. Freeware is software made available free of charge. From the late 1990s onward, some alternative terms for free software came into common usage, including "open source software", "software libre", "free, libre and open-source software" ("FLOSS"), and "free/open-source software".
The FSF recommend using the term "free software" and never "open source software" due to the conflicting aims of (in particular the open source community's lack of emphasis on software freedom) "Libre" is used to avoid the ambiguity of the word "free". However, this term is mostly used within the free software movement.
History
Main article: History of free software
In the 50s, 60s, and 70s, it was normal for computer users to have the freedoms provided by free software. Software was commonly shared by individuals who used computers and by hardware manufacturers who were glad that
people were making software that made their hardware useful. In the 70s and early 80s, companies started to use copyright to prohibit sharing software, and they began using technical measures such as only distributing binary copies to prevent computer users from being able to study and modify the software.In 1983, Richard Stallman launched the GNU project after becoming frustrated with the effects of the change in culture of the computer industry and users. Software development for the GNU operating system began in January 1984, and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) was founded in October 1985. He introduced a free software definition and "copyleft", designed to ensure software freedom for all.
Free software is a huge international effort, producing software used by individuals, large organisations, and governmental administrations. Free software has a very high market penetration in server-side Internet applications such as the Apache web server, MySQL database, and PHP scripting language. Completely free computing environments are available as large packages of basic system software such as the many GNU/Linux distributions and the FreeBSD OS. Free software developers have also created free versions of almost all commonly used desktop applications such as web browsers, office productivity suites, and multimedia players. It is important to note, however, that in many categories, free software for individual workstation or home users has only a fraction of the market share of their proprietary competitors. Most free software is distributed online without charge, or off-line at the marginal cost of distribution, but this is not required, and people may sell copies for any price.
The economic advantages of the free software model have been recognised by large corporations such as IBM, Red Hat, and Sun Microsystems. Many companies whose core business is not in the IT sector choose free software for their Internet information and sales sites, due to the lower initial capital investment and ability to freely customize the
application packages. Also, some non-software industries are beginning to use techniques similar to those used in free software development for their research and development: scientists, for example, are looking towards more open development processes, and hardware such as microchips are beginning to be developed with specifications released under copyleft licenses (see the OpenCores project, for instance). Creative Commons and the free culture movement have also been largely influenced by the free software movement.Definition
Main articles: The Free Software Definition, Debian Free Software Guidelines, and Open Source Definition
To help distinguish libre (freedom) software from gratis (zero price) software, Richard Stallman, founder of the free software movement, developed the following explanation: "Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of 'free' as in 'free speech', not as in 'free beer'"More specifically, free software means that computer users have the freedom to cooperate with whom they choose, and to control the software they use. The GNU Manifesto contains language that gives evidence of Stallman's initial confusion with the usage.
According to Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation, software is free software if people who receive a copy of the software have the following four freedoms:
Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program for any purpose.
Freedom 1: The freedom to study and modify the program.
Freedom 2: The freedom to copy the program so you can help your neighbor.
Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.
Freedoms 1 and 3 require source code access, because studying and modifying software without its source code is highly impractical. Access to annotated source code relieves these problems.
Other groups have published their own definitions which describe an almost identical set of software. The Debian Free Software Guidelines is one, and the Open Source Definition is another.
The free BSD-based operating systems, such as FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD, don't have their own formal definitions of free software. Users of these systems find the same set of software to be acceptable, however, rather than advocate the use of copyleft free software licences, they see copyleft as being merely tolerable. Instead, they advocate permissive free software licences which allow others to make software based on their source code and then not, in turn, also distribute the source. Their view is that this permissive approach is more free. The Kerberos, X.org, and Apache software licences are substantially similar in intent and implementation. All of these software packages originated in academic institutions interested in the widest possible technology transfer (University of California, MIT, and UIUC).
Examples of free software
Main articles: List of open source software packages, Portal:Free software/Categories, and :Category:Free software
Notable free software:
Operating systems: Linux, BSD, Darwin, and OpenSolaris.
GCC compilers, GDB debugger and C libraries.
Servers: BIND name server, Sendmail mail transport, Apache web server, and Samba file server.
Relational database systems: MySQL and PostgreSQL.
Programming languages: Perl, PHP, Python, Lua, Ruby, and Tcl.
GUI related: X Window System, GNOME, KDE, and Xfce desktop environments.
OpenOffice.org office suite, Mozilla and Firefox web browsers, and the GIMP graphics editor.
Typesetting and document preparation systems TeX and LaTeX.
ogg: free software multimedia file type that can function like an mp3 or mp4.
The Free Software Directory is a free software project that maintains a large database of free software packages.
Free software licenses
Main article: Free software licenses
All free software licences must grant people all the freedoms discussed above. However, unless the applications' licences are compatible, combining programs by mixing source code or directly linking binaries is problematic, because of licence technicalities. Programs indirectly connected together may avoid this problem.
Most free software uses a small set of licenses. The most popular of these are:
the GNU General Public License
the GNU Lesser General Public License
the BSD License
the Mozilla Public License
the MIT License
the Apache License
Free Software Foundation and Open Source Initiative both publish lists of licenses that they find to comply with their definition of free software and open-source software respectively.
List of FSF approved software licences
List of OSI approved software licences
These lists are necessarily incomplete, because a license need not be known by either organization in order to provide these freedoms.
Apart from these two organisations, the Debian project is seen by some to provide useful advice on whether particular licenses comply with their Debian Free Software Guidelines. Debian doesn't publish a list of approved licenses, so its judgements have to be tracked by checking what software they have allowed into their software archives. That is summarized at the Debian web site
However, it is rare that a license is announced as being in-compliance by FSF or OSI and not the other (the Netscape Public License used for early versions of Mozilla being an exception), so exact definitions of the terms have not become hot issues.
Permissive and copyleft licences
The FSF categorizes licenses in the following ways:
Copyleft licenses, the GNU General Public License being the most prominent. The author retains copyright and permits redistribution and modification under terms to ensure that all modified versions remain free for as long as the author wishes.
BSD-style licenses, so called because they are applied to much of the software distributed with the BSD operating systems. The author retains copyright protection solely to disclaim warranty and require proper attribution of modified works, but permits redistribution and modification in any work, even proprietary ones, again, for as long as the author wishes.
Public domain software - the author has abandoned the copyright. Since public-domain software lacks copyright protection, it may be freely incorporated into any work, whether proprietary or free. Importantly, software released thus goes completely out of control of the author, who, even if he subsequently so desires, cannot impose any restriction on its use.
Impact
Free software played a part in the development of the Internet, the World Wide Web and the infrastructure (and subsequent debacle) of dot-com companies. Free software allows users to cooperate in enhancing and refining the programs they use; free software is a pure public good rather than a private good. Companies that contribute to free software can increase commercial innovation amidst the void of patent cross licensing lawsuits.
Under the free software business model, free software vendors may charge a fee for distribution and offer pay support and software customization services. Proprietary software uses a different business model, where a customer of the proprietary software pays a fee for a license to use the software. This license may grant the customer the ability to configure some or no parts of the software themselves. Often some level of support is included in the purchase of proprietary software, but additional support services (especially for enterprise applications) are usually available for an additional fee. Some proprietary software vendors will also customize software for a fee.
Free software is generally available at little to no cost and can result in permanently lower costs compared to proprietary software. With free software, businesses can fit software to their specific needs by changing the software themselves or by hiring programmers to modify it for them. Free software often has no warranty, and more importantly, generally does not assign legal liability to anyone. However, warranties are permitted between any two parties upon the condition of the software and its usage. Such an agreement is made separately from the free software license.
There is debate over the security of free software in comparison to proprietary software, with a major issue being security through obscurity. A popular quantitative test in computer security is using relative counting of known unpatched security flaws. Generally, users of this method advise avoiding products which lack fixes for known security flaws, at least until a fix is available. Some claim that method counts more vulnerabilities for the free software, since their source code is accessible and their community is more forthcoming about what problems exist.
Free software advocates rebut that closed source programs do not have published flaws, but flaws could exist and are possibly already known to malicious users. The ability to view and modify the software provides many more people who can analyze the code, and possibly have a higher rate of finding bugs and flaws than an average corporation. Having access to the source code also makes creating spyware far more difficult.
Controversies
Binary blobs
Main article: Binary blobs
In 2006, OpenBSD started the first campaign against the use of binary blobs, binary large objects, in kernels. Blobs are usually freely distributable device drivers for hardware from vendors that do not reveal driver source code to users or developers. This restricts the users' freedom to effectively modify the software and distribute modified versions. Also, since the blobs are undocumented and may have bugs, they pose a security risk to any operating system whose kernel includes them. The proclaimed aim of the campaign against blobs is to collect hardware documentation that allows developers to write free software drivers for that hardware, ultimately enabling all free operating systems to become or remain blob-free.
The issue of binary blobs in the Linux kernel and other device drivers motivated some developers in Ireland to launch gNewSense, a Linux distribution with all the binary blobs removed. The project received support from the Free Software Foundation
BitKeeper
Main article: BitKeeper#License concerns
Larry McVoy invited high-profile free software projects to use his proprietary versioning system, BitKeeper, free of charge, in order to attract paying users. In 2002 a controversial decision was made to use BitKeeper, a proprietary software product, to develop the Linux kernel, a free software project. The following excerpt from a Newsforge editorial by Richard Stallman illustrates why this proved to be a major source of controversy.
The free software movement has said »Think of free speech, not free beer« for 15 years. McVoy said the opposite; he invited developers to focus on the lack of monetary price, instead of on freedom. A free software activist would dismiss this suggestion, but those in our community who value technical advantage above freedom and community were susceptible to it.
A free kernel, even a whole free operating system, is not sufficient to use your computer in freedom; we need free software for everything else, too. Free applications, free drivers, free BIOS: some of those projects face large obstacles ─ the need to reverse engineer formats or protocols or pressure companies to document them, or to work around or face down patent threats, or to compete with a network effect. Success will require firmness and determination. A better kernel is desirable, to be sure, but not at the expense of weakening the impetus to liberate the rest of the software world.
Following the reverse engineering of BitKeeper's protocols, McVoy withdrew permission for gratis use by free software projects. After this, Linux kernel community decided to develop and use Git, which is free software.
Patent deals
Main article: Software patents and free software
In November of 2006, the Microsoft and Novell software corporations announced a controversial partnership involving, among other things, patent protection for some customers of Novell under certain conditions.
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