# LANGUAGE translation of https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.html
# Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc.
# This file is distributed under the same license as the original article.
# FIRST AUTHOR <EMAIL@ADDRESS>, YEAR.
#
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#. type: Content of: <title>
msgid "Why Software Should Be Free - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h2>
msgid "Why Software Should Be Free"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><address>
msgid "by <a href=\"https://www.stallman.org/\">Richard Stallman</a>"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The existence of software inevitably raises the question of how decisions "
"about its use should be made. For example, suppose one individual who has a "
"copy of a program meets another who would like a copy. It is possible for "
"them to copy the program; who should decide whether this is done? The "
"individuals involved? Or another party, called the “owner”?"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Software developers typically consider these questions on the assumption "
"that the criterion for the answer is to maximize developers' profits. The "
"political power of business has led to the government adoption of both this "
"criterion and the answer proposed by the developers: that the program has an "
"owner, typically a corporation associated with its development."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"I would like to consider the same question using a different criterion: the "
"prosperity and freedom of the public in general."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"This answer cannot be decided by current law—the law should conform to "
"ethics, not the other way around. Nor does current practice decide this "
"question, although it may suggest possible answers. The only way to judge "
"is to see who is helped and who is hurt by recognizing owners of software, "
"why, and how much. In other words, we should perform a cost-benefit "
"analysis on behalf of society as a whole, taking account of individual "
"freedom as well as production of material goods."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"In this essay, I will describe the effects of having owners, and show that "
"the results are detrimental. My conclusion is that programmers have the "
"duty to encourage others to share, redistribute, study, and improve the "
"software we write: in other words, to write <a "
"href=\"/philosophy/free-sw.html\">“free” software</a>.<a "
"href=\"#f1\">(1)</a>"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h3>
msgid "How Owners Justify Their Power"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Those who benefit from the current system where programs are property offer "
"two arguments in support of their claims to own programs: the emotional "
"argument and the economic argument."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The emotional argument goes like this: “I put my sweat, my heart, my "
"soul into this program. It comes from <em>me</em>, it's "
"<em>mine</em>!”"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"This argument does not require serious refutation. The feeling of "
"attachment is one that programmers can cultivate when it suits them; it is "
"not inevitable. Consider, for example, how willingly the same programmers "
"usually sign over all rights to a large corporation for a salary; the "
"emotional attachment mysteriously vanishes. By contrast, consider the great "
"artists and artisans of medieval times, who didn't even sign their names to "
"their work. To them, the name of the artist was not important. What "
"mattered was that the work was done—and the purpose it would serve. "
"This view prevailed for hundreds of years."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The economic argument goes like this: “I want to get rich (usually "
"described inaccurately as ‘making a living’), and if you don't "
"allow me to get rich by programming, then I won't program. Everyone else is "
"like me, so nobody will ever program. And then you'll be stuck with no "
"programs at all!” This threat is usually veiled as friendly advice "
"from the wise."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"I'll explain later why this threat is a bluff. First I want to address an "
"implicit assumption that is more visible in another formulation of the "
"argument."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"This formulation starts by comparing the social utility of a proprietary "
"program with that of no program, and then concludes that proprietary "
"software development is, on the whole, beneficial, and should be "
"encouraged. The fallacy here is in comparing only two "
"outcomes—proprietary software versus no software—and assuming "
"there are no other possibilities."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Given a system of software copyright, software development is usually linked "
"with the existence of an owner who controls the software's use. As long as "
"this linkage exists, we are often faced with the choice of proprietary "
"software or none. However, this linkage is not inherent or inevitable; it "
"is a consequence of the specific social/legal policy decision that we are "
"questioning: the decision to have owners. To formulate the choice as "
"between proprietary software versus no software is begging the question."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h3>
msgid "The Argument against Having Owners"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The question at hand is, “Should development of software be linked "
"with having owners to restrict the use of it?”"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"In order to decide this, we have to judge the effect on society of each of "
"those two activities <em>independently</em>: the effect of developing the "
"software (regardless of its terms of distribution), and the effect of "
"restricting its use (assuming the software has been developed). If one of "
"these activities is helpful and the other is harmful, we would be better off "
"dropping the linkage and doing only the helpful one."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"To put it another way, if restricting the distribution of a program already "
"developed is harmful to society overall, then an ethical software developer "
"will reject the option of doing so."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"To determine the effect of restricting sharing, we need to compare the value "
"to society of a restricted (i.e., proprietary) program with that of the same "
"program, available to everyone. This means comparing two possible worlds."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"This analysis also addresses the simple counterargument sometimes made that "
"“the benefit to the neighbor of giving him or her a copy of a program "
"is cancelled by the harm done to the owner.” This counterargument "
"assumes that the harm and the benefit are equal in magnitude. The analysis "
"involves comparing these magnitudes, and shows that the benefit is much "
"greater."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"To elucidate this argument, let's apply it in another area: road "
"construction."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"It would be possible to fund the construction of all roads with tolls. This "
"would entail having toll booths at all street corners. Such a system would "
"provide a great incentive to improve roads. It would also have the virtue "
"of causing the users of any given road to pay for that road. However, a "
"toll booth is an artificial obstruction to smooth driving—artificial, "
"because it is not a consequence of how roads or cars work."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Comparing free roads and toll roads by their usefulness, we find that (all "
"else being equal) roads without toll booths are cheaper to construct, "
"cheaper to run, safer, and more efficient to use.<a href=\"#f2\">(2)</a> In "
"a poor country, tolls may make the roads unavailable to many citizens. The "
"roads without toll booths thus offer more benefit to society at less cost; "
"they are preferable for society. Therefore, society should choose to fund "
"roads in another way, not by means of toll booths. Use of roads, once "
"built, should be free."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"When the advocates of toll booths propose them as <em>merely</em> a way of "
"raising funds, they distort the choice that is available. Toll booths do "
"raise funds, but they do something else as well: in effect, they degrade the "
"road. The toll road is not as good as the free road; giving us more or "
"technically superior roads may not be an improvement if this means "
"substituting toll roads for free roads."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Of course, the construction of a free road does cost money, which the public "
"must somehow pay. However, this does not imply the inevitability of toll "
"booths. We who must in either case pay will get more value for our money by "
"buying a free road."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"I am not saying that a toll road is worse than no road at all. That would "
"be true if the toll were so great that hardly anyone used the road—but "
"this is an unlikely policy for a toll collector. However, as long as the "
"toll booths cause significant waste and inconvenience, it is better to raise "
"the funds in a less obstructive fashion."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"To apply the same argument to software development, I will now show that "
"having “toll booths” for useful software programs costs society "
"dearly: it makes the programs more expensive to construct, more expensive to "
"distribute, and less satisfying and efficient to use. It will follow that "
"program construction should be encouraged in some other way. Then I will go "
"on to explain other methods of encouraging and (to the extent actually "
"necessary) funding software development."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h4>
msgid "The Harm Done by Obstructing Software"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Consider for a moment that a program has been developed, and any necessary "
"payments for its development have been made; now society must choose either "
"to make it proprietary or allow free sharing and use. Assume that the "
"existence of the program and its availability is a desirable thing.<a "
"href=\"#f3\">(3)</a>"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Restrictions on the distribution and modification of the program cannot "
"facilitate its use. They can only interfere. So the effect can only be "
"negative. But how much? And what kind?"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid "Three different levels of material harm come from such obstruction:"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><ul><li>
msgid "Fewer people use the program."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><ul><li>
msgid "None of the users can adapt or fix the program."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><ul><li>
msgid "Other developers cannot learn from the program, or base new work on it."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Each level of material harm has a concomitant form of psychosocial "
"harm. This refers to the effect that people's decisions have on their "
"subsequent feelings, attitudes, and predispositions. These changes in "
"people's ways of thinking will then have a further effect on their "
"relationships with their fellow citizens, and can have material "
"consequences."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The three levels of material harm waste part of the value that the program "
"could contribute, but they cannot reduce it to zero. If they waste nearly "
"all the value of the program, then writing the program harms society by at "
"most the effort that went into writing the program. Arguably a program that "
"is profitable to sell must provide some net direct material benefit."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"However, taking account of the concomitant psychosocial harm, there is no "
"limit to the harm that proprietary software development can do."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h4>
msgid "Obstructing Use of Programs"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The first level of harm impedes the simple use of a program. A copy of a "
"program has nearly zero marginal cost (and you can pay this cost by doing "
"the work yourself), so in a free market, it would have nearly zero price. A "
"license fee is a significant disincentive to use the program. If a widely "
"useful program is proprietary, far fewer people will use it."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"It is easy to show that the total contribution of a program to society is "
"reduced by assigning an owner to it. Each potential user of the program, "
"faced with the need to pay to use it, may choose to pay, or may forego use "
"of the program. When a user chooses to pay, this is a zero-sum transfer of "
"wealth between two parties. But each time someone chooses to forego use of "
"the program, this harms that person without benefiting anyone. The sum of "
"negative numbers and zeros must be negative."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"But this does not reduce the amount of work it takes to <em>develop</em> the "
"program. As a result, the efficiency of the whole process, in delivered "
"user satisfaction per hour of work, is reduced."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"This reflects a crucial difference between copies of programs and cars, "
"chairs, or sandwiches. There is no copying machine for material objects "
"outside of science fiction. But programs are easy to copy; anyone can "
"produce as many copies as are wanted, with very little effort. This isn't "
"true for material objects because matter is conserved: each new copy has to "
"be built from raw materials in the same way that the first copy was built."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"With material objects, a disincentive to use them makes sense, because fewer "
"objects bought means less raw material and work needed to make them. It's "
"true that there is usually also a startup cost, a development cost, which is "
"spread over the production run. But as long as the marginal cost of "
"production is significant, adding a share of the development cost does not "
"make a qualitative difference. And it does not require restrictions on the "
"freedom of ordinary users."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"However, imposing a price on something that would otherwise be free is a "
"qualitative change. A centrally imposed fee for software distribution "
"becomes a powerful disincentive."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"What's more, central production as now practiced is inefficient even as a "
"means of delivering copies of software. This system involves enclosing "
"physical disks or tapes in superfluous packaging, shipping large numbers of "
"them around the world, and storing them for sale. This cost is presented as "
"an expense of doing business; in truth, it is part of the waste caused by "
"having owners."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h4>
msgid "Damaging Social Cohesion"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Suppose that both you and your neighbor would find it useful to run a "
"certain program. In ethical concern for your neighbor, you should feel that "
"proper handling of the situation will enable both of you to use it. A "
"proposal to permit only one of you to use the program, while restraining the "
"other, is divisive; neither you nor your neighbor should find it acceptable."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Signing a typical software license agreement means betraying your neighbor: "
"“I promise to deprive my neighbor of this program so that I can have a "
"copy for myself.” People who make such choices feel internal "
"psychological pressure to justify them, by downgrading the importance of "
"helping one's neighbors—thus public spirit suffers. This is "
"psychosocial harm associated with the material harm of discouraging use of "
"the program."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Many users unconsciously recognize the wrong of refusing to share, so they "
"decide to ignore the licenses and laws, and share programs anyway. But they "
"often feel guilty about doing so. They know that they must break the laws "
"in order to be good neighbors, but they still consider the laws "
"authoritative, and they conclude that being a good neighbor (which they are) "
"is naughty or shameful. That is also a kind of psychosocial harm, but one "
"can escape it by deciding that these licenses and laws have no moral force."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Programmers also suffer psychosocial harm knowing that many users will not "
"be allowed to use their work. This leads to an attitude of cynicism or "
"denial. A programmer may describe enthusiastically the work that he finds "
"technically exciting; then when asked, “Will I be permitted to use "
"it?” his face falls, and he admits the answer is no. To avoid feeling "
"discouraged, he either ignores this fact most of the time or adopts a "
"cynical stance designed to minimize the importance of it."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Since the age of Reagan, the greatest scarcity in the United States is not "
"technical innovation, but rather the willingness to work together for the "
"public good. It makes no sense to encourage the former at the expense of "
"the latter."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h4>
msgid "Obstructing Custom Adaptation of Programs"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The second level of material harm is the inability to adapt programs. The "
"ease of modification of software is one of its great advantages over older "
"technology. But most commercially available software isn't available for "
"modification, even after you buy it. It's available for you to take it or "
"leave it, as a black box—that is all."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"A program that you can run consists of a series of numbers whose meaning is "
"obscure. No one, not even a good programmer, can easily change the numbers "
"to make the program do something different."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Programmers normally work with the “source code” for a program, "
"which is written in a programming language such as Fortran or C. It uses "
"names to designate the data being used and the parts of the program, and it "
"represents operations with symbols such as <code>+</code> for addition and "
"<code>-</code> for subtraction. It is designed to help programmers read and "
"change programs. Here is an example; a program to calculate the distance "
"between two points in a plane:"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><pre>
#, no-wrap
msgid ""
" float\n"
" distance (p0, p1)\n"
" struct point p0, p1;\n"
" {\n"
" float xdist = p1.x - p0.x;\n"
" float ydist = p1.y - p0.y;\n"
" return sqrt (xdist * xdist + ydist * ydist);\n"
" }\n"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Precisely what that source code means is not the point; the point is that it "
"looks like algebra, and a person who knows this programming language will "
"find it meaningful and clear. By contrast, here is same program in "
"executable form, on the computer I normally used when I wrote this:"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><pre>
#, no-wrap
msgid ""
" 1314258944 -232267772 -231844864 1634862\n"
" 1411907592 -231844736 2159150 1420296208\n"
" -234880989 -234879837 -234879966 -232295424\n"
" 1644167167 -3214848 1090581031 1962942495\n"
" 572518958 -803143692 1314803317\n"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Source code is useful (at least potentially) to every user of a program. But "
"most users are not allowed to have copies of the source code. Usually the "
"source code for a proprietary program is kept secret by the owner, lest "
"anybody else learn something from it. Users receive only the files of "
"incomprehensible numbers that the computer will execute. This means that "
"only the program's owner can change the program."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"A friend once told me of working as a programmer in a bank for about six "
"months, writing a program similar to something that was commercially "
"available. She believed that if she could have gotten source code for that "
"commercially available program, it could easily have been adapted to their "
"needs. The bank was willing to pay for this, but was not permitted "
"to—the source code was a secret. So she had to do six months of "
"make-work, work that counts in the GNP but was actually waste."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The <abbr title=\"Massachusetts Institute of Technology\">MIT</abbr> "
"Artificial Intelligence Lab (AI Lab) received a graphics printer as a gift "
"from Xerox around 1977. It was run by free software to which we added many "
"convenient features. For example, the software would notify a user "
"immediately on completion of a print job. Whenever the printer had trouble, "
"such as a paper jam or running out of paper, the software would immediately "
"notify all users who had print jobs queued. These features facilitated "
"smooth operation."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Later Xerox gave the AI Lab a newer, faster printer, one of the first laser "
"printers. It was driven by proprietary software that ran in a separate "
"dedicated computer, so we couldn't add any of our favorite features. We "
"could arrange to send a notification when a print job was sent to the "
"dedicated computer, but not when the job was actually printed (and the delay "
"was usually considerable). There was no way to find out when the job was "
"actually printed; you could only guess. And no one was informed when there "
"was a paper jam, so the printer often went for an hour without being fixed."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The system programmers at the AI Lab were capable of fixing such problems, "
"probably as capable as the original authors of the program. Xerox was "
"uninterested in fixing them, and chose to prevent us, so we were forced to "
"accept the problems. They were never fixed."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Most good programmers have experienced this frustration. The bank could "
"afford to solve the problem by writing a new program from scratch, but a "
"typical user, no matter how skilled, can only give up."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Giving up causes psychosocial harm—to the spirit of self-reliance. It "
"is demoralizing to live in a house that you cannot rearrange to suit your "
"needs. It leads to resignation and discouragement, which can spread to "
"affect other aspects of one's life. People who feel this way are unhappy "
"and do not do good work."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Imagine what it would be like if recipes were hoarded in the same fashion as "
"software. You might say, “How do I change this recipe to take out the "
"salt?” and the great chef would respond, “How dare you insult my "
"recipe, the child of my brain and my palate, by trying to tamper with it? "
"You don't have the judgment to change my recipe and make it work "
"right!”"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"“But my doctor says I'm not supposed to eat salt! What can I do? Will "
"you take out the salt for me?”"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"“I would be glad to do that; my fee is only $50,000.” Since the "
"owner has a monopoly on changes, the fee tends to be large. “However, "
"right now I don't have time. I am busy with a commission to design a new "
"recipe for ship's biscuit for the Navy Department. I might get around to "
"you in about two years.”"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h4>
msgid "Obstructing Software Development"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The third level of material harm affects software development. Software "
"development used to be an evolutionary process, where a person would take an "
"existing program and rewrite parts of it for one new feature, and then "
"another person would rewrite parts to add another feature; in some cases, "
"this continued over a period of twenty years. Meanwhile, parts of the "
"program would be “cannibalized” to form the beginnings of other "
"programs."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The existence of owners prevents this kind of evolution, making it necessary "
"to start from scratch when developing a program. It also prevents new "
"practitioners from studying existing programs to learn useful techniques or "
"even how large programs can be structured."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Owners also obstruct education. I have met bright students in computer "
"science who have never seen the source code of a large program. They may be "
"good at writing small programs, but they can't begin to learn the different "
"skills of writing large ones if they can't see how others have done it."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"In any intellectual field, one can reach greater heights by standing on the "
"shoulders of others. But that is no longer generally allowed in the "
"software field—you can only stand on the shoulders of the other people "
"<em>in your own company</em>."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The associated psychosocial harm affects the spirit of scientific "
"cooperation, which used to be so strong that scientists would cooperate even "
"when their countries were at war. In this spirit, Japanese oceanographers "
"abandoning their lab on an island in the Pacific carefully preserved their "
"work for the invading U.S. Marines, and left a note asking them to take good "
"care of it."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Conflict for profit has destroyed what international conflict spared. "
"Nowadays scientists in many fields don't publish enough in their papers to "
"enable others to replicate the experiment. They publish only enough to let "
"readers marvel at how much they were able to do. This is certainly true in "
"computer science, where the source code for the programs reported on is "
"usually secret."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h4>
msgid "It Does Not Matter How Sharing Is Restricted"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"I have been discussing the effects of preventing people from copying, "
"changing, and building on a program. I have not specified how this "
"obstruction is carried out, because that doesn't affect the conclusion. "
"Whether it is done by copy protection, or copyright, or licenses, or "
"encryption, or <abbr title=\"Read-only Memory\">ROM</abbr> cards, or "
"hardware serial numbers, if it <em>succeeds</em> in preventing use, it does "
"harm."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Users do consider some of these methods more obnoxious than others. I "
"suggest that the methods most hated are those that accomplish their "
"objective."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h4>
msgid "Software Should be Free"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"I have shown how ownership of a program—the power to restrict changing "
"or copying it—is obstructive. Its negative effects are widespread and "
"important. It follows that society shouldn't have owners for programs."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Another way to understand this is that what society needs is free software, "
"and proprietary software is a poor substitute. Encouraging the substitute "
"is not a rational way to get what we need."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Vaclav Havel has advised us to “Work for something because it is good, "
"not just because it stands a chance to succeed.” A business making "
"proprietary software stands a chance of success in its own narrow terms, but "
"it is not what is good for society."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h3>
msgid "Why People Will Develop Software"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"If we eliminate copyright as a means of encouraging people to develop "
"software, at first less software will be developed, but that software will "
"be more useful. It is not clear whether the overall delivered user "
"satisfaction will be less; but if it is, or if we wish to increase it "
"anyway, there are other ways to encourage development, just as there are "
"ways besides toll booths to raise money for streets. Before I talk about how "
"that can be done, first I want to question how much artificial encouragement "
"is truly necessary."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h4>
msgid "Programming is Fun"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"There are some lines of work that few will enter except for money; road "
"construction, for example. There are other fields of study and art in which "
"there is little chance to become rich, which people enter for their "
"fascination or their perceived value to society. Examples include "
"mathematical logic, classical music, and archaeology; and political "
"organizing among working people. People compete, more sadly than bitterly, "
"for the few funded positions available, none of which is funded very well. "
"They may even pay for the chance to work in the field, if they can afford "
"to."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Such a field can transform itself overnight if it begins to offer the "
"possibility of getting rich. When one worker gets rich, others demand the "
"same opportunity. Soon all may demand large sums of money for doing what "
"they used to do for pleasure. When another couple of years go by, everyone "
"connected with the field will deride the idea that work would be done in the "
"field without large financial returns. They will advise social planners to "
"ensure that these returns are possible, prescribing special privileges, "
"powers, and monopolies as necessary to do so."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"This change happened in the field of computer programming in the 1980s. In "
"the 1970s, there were articles on “computer addiction”: users "
"were “onlining” and had hundred-dollar-a-week habits. It was "
"generally understood that people frequently loved programming enough to "
"break up their marriages. Today, it is generally understood that no one "
"would program except for a high rate of pay. People have forgotten what they "
"knew back then."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"When it is true at a given time that most people will work in a certain "
"field only for high pay, it need not remain true. The dynamic of change can "
"run in reverse, if society provides an impetus. If we take away the "
"possibility of great wealth, then after a while, when the people have "
"readjusted their attitudes, they will once again be eager to work in the "
"field for the joy of accomplishment."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The question “How can we pay programmers?” becomes an easier "
"question when we realize that it's not a matter of paying them a fortune. A "
"mere living is easier to raise."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h4>
msgid "Funding Free Software"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Institutions that pay programmers do not have to be software houses. Many "
"other institutions already exist that can do this."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Hardware manufacturers find it essential to support software development "
"even if they cannot control the use of the software. In 1970, much of their "
"software was free because they did not consider restricting it. Today, their "
"increasing willingness to join consortiums shows their realization that "
"owning the software is not what is really important for them."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Universities conduct many programming projects. Today they often sell the "
"results, but in the 1970s they did not. Is there any doubt that "
"universities would develop free software if they were not allowed to sell "
"software? These projects could be supported by the same government contracts "
"and grants that now support proprietary software development."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"It is common today for university researchers to get grants to develop a "
"system, develop it nearly to the point of completion and call that "
"“finished,” and then start companies where they really finish "
"the project and make it usable. Sometimes they declare the unfinished "
"version “free”; if they are thoroughly corrupt, they instead get "
"an exclusive license from the university. This is not a secret; it is "
"openly admitted by everyone concerned. Yet if the researchers were not "
"exposed to the temptation to do these things, they would still do their "
"research."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Programmers writing free software can make their living by selling services "
"related to the software. I have been hired to port the <a "
"href=\"/software/gcc/\">GNU C compiler</a> to new hardware, and to make "
"user-interface extensions to <a href=\"/software/emacs/\">GNU Emacs</a>. (I "
"offer these improvements to the public once they are done.) I also teach "
"classes for which I am paid."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"I am not alone in working this way; there is now a successful, growing "
"corporation which does no other kind of work. Several other companies also "
"provide commercial support for the free software of the GNU system. This is "
"the beginning of the independent software support industry—an industry "
"that could become quite large if free software becomes prevalent. It "
"provides users with an option generally unavailable for proprietary "
"software, except to the very wealthy."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"New institutions such as the <a href=\"/fsf/fsf.html\">Free Software "
"Foundation</a> can also fund programmers. Most of the Foundation's funds "
"come from users buying tapes through the mail. The software on the tapes is "
"free, which means that every user has the freedom to copy it and change it, "
"but many nonetheless pay to get copies. (Recall that “free "
"software” refers to freedom, not to price.) Some users who already "
"have a copy order tapes as a way of making a contribution they feel we "
"deserve. The Foundation also receives sizable donations from computer "
"manufacturers."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The Free Software Foundation is a charity, and its income is spent on hiring "
"as many programmers as possible. If it had been set up as a business, "
"distributing the same free software to the public for the same fee, it would "
"now provide a very good living for its founder."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Because the Foundation is a charity, programmers often work for the "
"Foundation for half of what they could make elsewhere. They do this because "
"we are free of bureaucracy, and because they feel satisfaction in knowing "
"that their work will not be obstructed from use. Most of all, they do it "
"because programming is fun. In addition, volunteers have written many "
"useful programs for us. (Even technical writers have begun to volunteer.)"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"This confirms that programming is among the most fascinating of all fields, "
"along with music and art. We don't have to fear that no one will want to "
"program."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h4>
msgid "What Do Users Owe to Developers?"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"There is a good reason for users of software to feel a moral obligation to "
"contribute to its support. Developers of free software are contributing to "
"the users' activities, and it is both fair and in the long-term interest of "
"the users to give them funds to continue."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"However, this does not apply to proprietary software developers, since "
"obstructionism deserves a punishment rather than a reward."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"We thus have a paradox: the developer of useful software is entitled to the "
"support of the users, but any attempt to turn this moral obligation into a "
"requirement destroys the basis for the obligation. A developer can either "
"deserve a reward or demand it, but not both."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"I believe that an ethical developer faced with this paradox must act so as "
"to deserve the reward, but should also entreat the users for voluntary "
"donations. Eventually the users will learn to support developers without "
"coercion, just as they have learned to support public radio and television "
"stations."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h3>
msgid "What Is Software Productivity?"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"If software were free, there would still be programmers, but perhaps fewer "
"of them. Would this be bad for society?"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Not necessarily. Today the advanced nations have fewer farmers than in "
"1900, but we do not think this is bad for society, because the few deliver "
"more food to the consumers than the many used to do. We call this improved "
"productivity. Free software would require far fewer programmers to satisfy "
"the demand, because of increased software productivity at all levels:"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><ul><li>
msgid "Wider use of each program that is developed."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><ul><li>
msgid ""
"The ability to adapt existing programs for customization instead of starting "
"from scratch."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><ul><li>
msgid "Better education of programmers."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><ul><li>
msgid "The elimination of duplicate development effort."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Those who object to cooperation claiming it would result in the employment "
"of fewer programmers are actually objecting to increased productivity. Yet "
"these people usually accept the widely held belief that the software "
"industry needs increased productivity. How is this?"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"“Software productivity” can mean two different things: the "
"overall productivity of all software development, or the productivity of "
"individual projects. Overall productivity is what society would like to "
"improve, and the most straightforward way to do this is to eliminate the "
"artificial obstacles to cooperation which reduce it. But researchers who "
"study the field of “software productivity” focus only on the "
"second, limited, sense of the term, where improvement requires difficult "
"technological advances."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h3>
msgid "Is Competition Inevitable?"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Is it inevitable that people will try to compete, to surpass their rivals in "
"society? Perhaps it is. But competition itself is not harmful; the harmful "
"thing is <em>combat</em>."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"There are many ways to compete. Competition can consist of trying to "
"achieve ever more, to outdo what others have done. For example, in the old "
"days, there was competition among programming wizards—competition for "
"who could make the computer do the most amazing thing, or for who could make "
"the shortest or fastest program for a given task. This kind of competition "
"can benefit everyone, <em>as long as</em> the spirit of good sportsmanship "
"is maintained."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Constructive competition is enough competition to motivate people to great "
"efforts. A number of people are competing to be the first to have visited "
"all the countries on Earth; some even spend fortunes trying to do this. But "
"they do not bribe ship captains to strand their rivals on desert islands. "
"They are content to let the best person win."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Competition becomes combat when the competitors begin trying to impede each "
"other instead of advancing themselves—when “Let the best person "
"win” gives way to “Let me win, best or not.” Proprietary "
"software is harmful, not because it is a form of competition, but because it "
"is a form of combat among the citizens of our society."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Competition in business is not necessarily combat. For example, when two "
"grocery stores compete, their entire effort is to improve their own "
"operations, not to sabotage the rival. But this does not demonstrate a "
"special commitment to business ethics; rather, there is little scope for "
"combat in this line of business short of physical violence. Not all areas "
"of business share this characteristic. Withholding information that could "
"help everyone advance is a form of combat."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Business ideology does not prepare people to resist the temptation to combat "
"the competition. Some forms of combat have been banned with antitrust laws, "
"truth in advertising laws, and so on, but rather than generalizing this to a "
"principled rejection of combat in general, executives invent other forms of "
"combat which are not specifically prohibited. Society's resources are "
"squandered on the economic equivalent of factional civil war."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h3>
msgid "“Why Don't You Move to Russia?”"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"In the United States, any advocate of other than the most extreme form of "
"laissez-faire selfishness has often heard this accusation. For example, it "
"is leveled against the supporters of a national health care system, such as "
"is found in all the other industrialized nations of the free world. It is "
"leveled against the advocates of public support for the arts, also universal "
"in advanced nations. The idea that citizens have any obligation to the "
"public good is identified in America with Communism. But how similar are "
"these ideas?"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Communism as was practiced in the Soviet Union was a system of central "
"control where all activity was regimented, supposedly for the common good, "
"but actually for the sake of the members of the Communist party. And where "
"copying equipment was closely guarded to prevent illegal copying."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"The American system of software copyright exercises central control over "
"distribution of a program, and guards copying equipment with automatic "
"copying-protection schemes to prevent illegal copying."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"By contrast, I am working to build a system where people are free to decide "
"their own actions; in particular, free to help their neighbors, and free to "
"alter and improve the tools which they use in their daily lives. A system "
"based on voluntary cooperation and on decentralization."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Thus, if we are to judge views by their resemblance to Russian Communism, it "
"is the software owners who are the Communists."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h3>
msgid "The Question of Premises"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"I make the assumption in this paper that a user of software is no less "
"important than an author, or even an author's employer. In other words, "
"their interests and needs have equal weight, when we decide which course of "
"action is best."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"This premise is not universally accepted. Many maintain that an author's "
"employer is fundamentally more important than anyone else. They say, for "
"example, that the purpose of having owners of software is to give the "
"author's employer the advantage he deserves—regardless of how this may "
"affect the public."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"It is no use trying to prove or disprove these premises. Proof requires "
"shared premises. So most of what I have to say is addressed only to those "
"who share the premises I use, or at least are interested in what their "
"consequences are. For those who believe that the owners are more important "
"than everyone else, this paper is simply irrelevant."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"But why would a large number of Americans accept a premise that elevates "
"certain people in importance above everyone else? Partly because of the "
"belief that this premise is part of the legal traditions of American "
"society. Some people feel that doubting the premise means challenging the "
"basis of society."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"It is important for these people to know that this premise is not part of "
"our legal tradition. It never has been."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Thus, the Constitution says that the purpose of copyright is to "
"“promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts.” The "
"Supreme Court has elaborated on this, stating in <em>Fox Film v. Doyal</em> "
"that “The sole interest of the United States and the primary object in "
"conferring the [copyright] monopoly lie in the general benefits derived by "
"the public from the labors of authors.”"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"We are not required to agree with the Constitution or the Supreme Court. "
"(At one time, they both condoned slavery.) So their positions do not "
"disprove the owner supremacy premise. But I hope that the awareness that "
"this is a radical right-wing assumption rather than a traditionally "
"recognized one will weaken its appeal."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h3>
msgid "Conclusion"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"We like to think that our society encourages helping your neighbor; but each "
"time we reward someone for obstructionism, or admire them for the wealth "
"they have gained in this way, we are sending the opposite message."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Software hoarding is one form of our general willingness to disregard the "
"welfare of society for personal gain. We can trace this disregard from "
"Ronald Reagan to Dick Cheney, from Exxon to Enron, from failing banks to "
"failing schools. We can measure it with the size of the homeless population "
"and the prison population. The antisocial spirit feeds on itself, because "
"the more we see that other people will not help us, the more it seems futile "
"to help them. Thus society decays into a jungle."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"If we don't want to live in a jungle, we must change our attitudes. We must "
"start sending the message that a good citizen is one who cooperates when "
"appropriate, not one who is successful at taking from others. I hope that "
"the free software movement will contribute to this: at least in one area, we "
"will replace the jungle with a more efficient system which encourages and "
"runs on voluntary cooperation."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><h3>
msgid "Footnotes"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><ol><li>
msgid ""
"The word “free” in “free software” refers to "
"freedom, not to price; the price paid for a copy of a free program may be "
"zero, or small, or (rarely) quite large."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><ol><li>
msgid ""
"The issues of pollution and traffic congestion do not alter this "
"conclusion. If we wish to make driving more expensive to discourage driving "
"in general, it is disadvantageous to do this using toll booths, which "
"contribute to both pollution and congestion. A tax on gasoline is much "
"better. Likewise, a desire to enhance safety by limiting maximum speed is "
"not relevant; a free-access road enhances the average speed by avoiding "
"stops and delays, for any given speed limit."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><ol><li>
msgid ""
"One might regard a particular computer program as a harmful thing that "
"should not be available at all, like the Lotus Marketplace database of "
"personal information, which was withdrawn from sale due to public "
"disapproval. Most of what I say does not apply to this case, but it makes "
"little sense to argue for having an owner on the grounds that the owner will "
"make the program less available. The owner will not make it "
"<em>completely</em> unavailable, as one would wish in the case of a program "
"whose use is considered destructive."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><div><p>
msgid ""
"This essay is published in <a "
"href=\"https://shop.fsf.org/product/free-software-free-society/\"><cite>Free "
"Software, Free Society: The Selected Essays of Richard "
"M. Stallman</cite></a>."
msgstr ""
#. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't have notes.
#. type: Content of: <div>
msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S NOTES*"
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><div><p>
msgid ""
"Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a "
"href=\"mailto:gnu@gnu.org\"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a "
"href=\"/contact/\">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and "
"other corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a "
"href=\"mailto:webmasters@gnu.org\"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>."
msgstr ""
#. TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph,
#. replace it with the translation of these two:
#
#. We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality
#. translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection.
#. Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard
#. to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org">
#
#. <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p>
#
#. <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of
#. our web pages, see <a
#. href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
#. README</a>.
#. type: Content of: <div><div><p>
msgid ""
"Please see the <a "
"href=\"/server/standards/README.translations.html\">Translations README</a> "
"for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this "
"article."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1998, 2006, 2010, 2021 Free Software "
"Foundation, Inc."
msgstr ""
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid ""
"This page is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" "
"href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons "
"Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>."
msgstr ""
#. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't want credits.
#. type: Content of: <div><div>
msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S CREDITS*"
msgstr ""
#. timestamp start
#. type: Content of: <div><p>
msgid "Updated:"
msgstr ""