Other influential examples include the Emacs text editor; the GIMP raster drawing and image editor; the X Window System graphical-display system; the LibreOffice office suite; and the TeX and LaTeX typesetting systems. == History == From the 1950s up until the early 1970s, it was normal for computer users to have the software freedoms associated with free software, which was typically public-domain software.
IBM, filed January 17, 1969, the government charged that bundled software was anti-competitive.
Other influential examples include the Emacs text editor; the GIMP raster drawing and image editor; the X Window System graphical-display system; the LibreOffice office suite; and the TeX and LaTeX typesetting systems. == History == From the 1950s up until the early 1970s, it was normal for computer users to have the software freedoms associated with free software, which was typically public-domain software.
By the early 1970s, the picture changed: software costs were dramatically increasing, a growing software industry was competing with the hardware manufacturer's bundled software products (free in that the cost was included in the hardware cost), leased machines required software support while providing no revenue for software, and some customers able to better meet their own needs did not want the costs of "free" software bundled with hardware product costs.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the software industry began using technical measures (such as only distributing binary copies of computer programs) to prevent computer users from being able to study or adapt the software applications as they saw fit.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the software industry began using technical measures (such as only distributing binary copies of computer programs) to prevent computer users from being able to study or adapt the software applications as they saw fit.
In 1980, copyright law was extended to computer programs. In 1983, Richard Stallman, one of the original authors of the popular Emacs program and a longtime member of the [(programmer subculture)|hacker] community at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, announced the GNU project, the purpose of which was to produce a completely non-proprietary Unix-compatible operating system, saying that he had become frustrated with the shift in climate surrounding the computer world and its users.
In 1980, copyright law was extended to computer programs. In 1983, Richard Stallman, one of the original authors of the popular Emacs program and a longtime member of the [(programmer subculture)|hacker] community at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, announced the GNU project, the purpose of which was to produce a completely non-proprietary Unix-compatible operating system, saying that he had become frustrated with the shift in climate surrounding the computer world and its users.
Creative Commons and the free-culture movement have also been largely influenced by the free software movement. ===1980s: Foundation of the GNU project=== In 1983, Richard Stallman, longtime member of the [(programmer subculture)|hacker] community at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, announced the GNU project, saying that he had become frustrated with the effects of the change in culture of the computer industry and its users.
Software development for the GNU operating system began in January 1984, and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) was founded in October 1985.
Software development for the GNU operating system began in January 1984, and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) was founded in October 1985.
An article outlining the project and its goals was published in March 1985 titled the GNU Manifesto.
See Gratis versus libre. ==Definition and the Four Essential Freedoms of Free Software== The first formal definition of free software was published by Free Software Foundation (FSF) in February 1986.
See Gratis versus libre. In the late 1990s, other groups published their own definitions that describe an almost identical set of software.
The manifesto included significant explanation of the GNU philosophy, Free Software Definition and "copyleft" ideas. ===1990s: Release of the Linux kernel=== The Linux kernel, started by Linus Torvalds, was released as freely modifiable source code in 1991.
However, with version 0.12 in February 1992, he relicensed the project under the GNU General Public License.
BSDi lawsuit was settled out of court in 1993.
OpenBSD forked from NetBSD in 1995.
Also in 1995, The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to as Apache, was released under the Apache License 1.0. == Licensing == All free-software licenses must grant users all the freedoms discussed above.
The most notable are Debian Free Software Guidelines published in 1997, and the Open Source Definition, published in 1998. The BSD-based operating systems, such as FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD, do not have their own formal definitions of free software.
Some free software is developed by volunteer computer programmers while other is developed by corporations; or even by both. === Naming and differences with Open Source === Although both definitions refer to almost equivalent corpora of programs, the Free Software Foundation recommends using the term "free software" rather than "open-source software" (a younger vision coined in 1998), because the goals and messaging are quite dissimilar.
The most notable are Debian Free Software Guidelines published in 1997, and the Open Source Definition, published in 1998. The BSD-based operating systems, such as FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD, do not have their own formal definitions of free software.
For example, the FSF's own recommended license (the GNU GPL) states that "[you] may charge any price or no price for each copy that you convey, and you may offer support or warranty protection for a fee." Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated in 2001 that "open source is not available to commercial companies.
According to Richard Stallman, user access to the source code makes deploying free software with undesirable hidden spyware functionality far more difficult than for proprietary software. Some quantitative studies have been done on the subject. ===Binary blobs and other proprietary software=== In 2006, OpenBSD started the first campaign against the use of binary blobs in kernels.
"Who Owns our Software?: A first-person case study." eContact (September 2009).
While Debian is not endorsed by the FSF and does not use Linux-libre, it is also a popular distribution available without kernel blobs by default since 2011. == Business model == Selling software under any free-software licence is permissible, as is commercial use.
As of October 2012, Trisquel is the most popular FSF endorsed Linux distribution ranked by Distrowatch (over 12 months).
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