ESP Wiki is looking for moderators and active contributors!

Difference between revisions of "Free software"

(External links: * [http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2010/08/16/oracle-google.html Considerations For FLOSS Hackers About Oracle vs. Google], 16 Aug 2010, by '''Bradley Kuhn''')
(It's particularly distasteful and bad law to allow patents to be used against free software)
Line 5: Line 5:
  
 
"Free software" is not a subtopic of [[software patents]].  Development and distribution of all types of software carry the risk of patent infringement.  The reason these two topics often appear together is that, firstly, the free software community is very active and vocal in campaigning against software patents, and secondly, software patents threaten a general freedom that free software users value: the freedom to participate in software development.
 
"Free software" is not a subtopic of [[software patents]].  Development and distribution of all types of software carry the risk of patent infringement.  The reason these two topics often appear together is that, firstly, the free software community is very active and vocal in campaigning against software patents, and secondly, software patents threaten a general freedom that free software users value: the freedom to participate in software development.
 +
 +
[Free software stands out in important ways as covered in the Discussion page under the section [[Talk:Free_software#Free_Software_has_important_differences_as_concerns_arguments| Free_Software_has_important_differences_as_concerns_arguments]]. Some can make a clearer case that free software should not be constrained by patents when we look at promote the progress or free speech concerns.]
  
 
The term '''open source''' is a near-synonym.  Patents affect the freedom that users and developers have when dealing with software.  Patents don't affect "openness", so {{SITENAME}} should use the term "free software".
 
The term '''open source''' is a near-synonym.  Patents affect the freedom that users and developers have when dealing with software.  Patents don't affect "openness", so {{SITENAME}} should use the term "free software".

Revision as of 20:13, 16 October 2010

Free software is software which can be used, copied, redistributed, and whose source code can be viewed, modified, and also redistributed. See also:

"Free software" is not a subtopic of software patents. Development and distribution of all types of software carry the risk of patent infringement. The reason these two topics often appear together is that, firstly, the free software community is very active and vocal in campaigning against software patents, and secondly, software patents threaten a general freedom that free software users value: the freedom to participate in software development.

[Free software stands out in important ways as covered in the Discussion page under the section Free_Software_has_important_differences_as_concerns_arguments. Some can make a clearer case that free software should not be constrained by patents when we look at promote the progress or free speech concerns.]

The term open source is a near-synonym. Patents affect the freedom that users and developers have when dealing with software. Patents don't affect "openness", so ESP Wiki should use the term "free software".

Why free software groups should be involved

The free software movement says that everyone should be allowed to modify and redistribute the software they use. Software patents interfere with this because they can add legal risks and costs to software development and distribution.

How patents effect free software

Free software has some advantages:

  • The development models are more distributed, so there's often no single big company behind a software package. This means there are fewer tempting targets for patent trolls
  • If a patent holder makes a threat, anyone can remove that one feature from free software packages. The patent holder could still sue for past damages, but could not force the package to be entirely removed from the market, and the continued use of that patented idea is a decision that can be made by the users, not by making a deal with a single distributor.

Free software also has certain difficulties:

  • Many patent licensing agreements are structured in a way that excludes free software. If there is a per-copy fee, even if the amount is miniscule, there's no way to comply with this requirement because distributors can't know how many copies the users will make.

Patent promises in 2005

IBM promised, for 500 of its patents, not to use them against free software.[1]

Sun[2] and Nokia[3] subsequently made promises that were so narrow in scope, they were qualified as "empty" and "next to nothing", respectively, by Richard Stallman.[4]

Related pages on ESP Wiki

External links

Pages from GNU/Linux distributions

References