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Difference between revisions of "Free software"

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==External links==
 
==External links==

Revision as of 08:58, 18 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]

Could free software get a special exception from the patent system?

This proposal has been raised many times, but has not been pursued by any major campaign organisation (for example: ESP, FFII, FSF, and FSFE).

Some reasons why free software organisations do not pursue this idea:

  • It strongly implies that software is patentable [This is psychology-speak not sound reason. The approach isn't even necessarily wise. There are many reasons to support giving a head of household the right to vote even if the real solution is to give all people the right to vote. There is in fact a stronger argument to give at least head of household the right to vote, and you risk much more by not doing so.]
  • It requires a legal definition of "free software" [We can argue that any reasonable definition should at worst be inclusive. This helps everyone.]
  • It cuts that organisation off from the main campaigns against software patents [Execution is important, and certainly the opposite effect might be achieved. We can think about the head-of-household vote example above. FOSS helps give a strength to arguments that apply to all of software but which were difficult to make prior to FOSS. Without crowding out proprietary, you can in fact accentuate FOSS at some point and let people know that it is intolerable to knock this down. One reasons IBM and others have helped FOSS on the surface is because they do gain extra from it and fear would alienate many customers and the FOSS community. If we didn't care that much, IBM and others would have little to worry about. Don't deny the truth or you short-change everyone. At the end, by increasing coverage, there are more arguments against some part or other of software, especially since we can expect that proprietary supporters will sneak in that FOSS should be excluded even if they can't really justify it. More arguments and bifurcations lets people know all of this stuff has backing and affects many people. This can end up promoting a simpler solution (with the safe bet being to give all software a pass). I think that if proprietary vendors know that FOSS might get in by itself, and they do worry about software patents as they should (you can't deny its costs), then they have reason to seek support aggressively so that all software gets treated fairly. In particular, you can promote FOSS for more reasons without saying the other reasons don't exist and aren't sufficient (of course, proprietary vendors will be there to make sure the more general reasons get a vote). Again, think of the head-of-household voting example.]

Some additional reasons why organisations which are agnostic to software freedom do not pursue this (as, for example, a stepping stone): [It's not necessary for these groups to sell FOSS. In fact, they should focus on reasons that apply to all software (and likely will also have some reasons they think applies only to closed source). It's important not to have internal fighting that weakens, but there are special qualities about FOSS, especially if you are primarily a user and most entities are users. A great many people use software and develop for it without selling it. All of them gain extra from blueprints to software being available and having a low-cost non-lockin option.. even if the software they write is internal and they keep secret. Most or perhaps all free software supports users creating forks or using it in ways where they don't share. We all gain, no matter our use of it. Only a few groups focus on selling software relative to the number of those that use it and build internally. When FOSS is restricted unfairly, everyone out there is hampered. When proprietary is restricted unfairly, a much smaller number of people get hampered. And proprietary software, as stated on this page, is much better equipped ultimately to manage patent licenses, even if in the process many software houses lose their competitive edge. For FOSS patent licensing is largely intolerable. It's an injustice not to make sure this is recognized at some level sufficiently.]

  • It would leave the majority of the economic harms of patents [This is debatable. In any case, there are also sizable free speech issues at stake.]
  • There are no well developed proposals
  • It's more work because it requires convincing legislators of two things:
    1. free software is special [There is a stronger free speech argument here and you promote more progress and greater welfare when more access is available under generous terms. Again, this isn't to say that there aren't sufficient free speech and promoting the progress and general welfare issues by allowing patents against proprietary software.]
    2. special software should be exempt from the patent system [See the head-of-household voting example above. That one class of restrictions is a lesser bad doesn't mean it isn't; however, the other restriction might be much less tolerable.]

Related pages on ESP Wiki

External links

Pages from GNU/Linux distributions

References