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Philosophy of the GNU Project - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation
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(The issue is not about price.) We developed the GNU operating system so that users can have freedom in their computing.</p> <p>Specifically, free software means users have the <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">four essential freedoms</a>: (0) to run the program, (1) to study and change the program in source code form, (2) to redistribute exact copies, and (3) to distribute modified versions.</p> <p>Software differs from material objects—such as chairs, sandwiches, and gasoline—in that it can be copied and changed much more easily. These facilities are why software is useful; we believe a program's users should be free to take advantage of them, not solely its developer.</p> <div class="comment"> <p>The articles in the short list below give an overview of GNU philosophy. For further reading, please check the menu above, especially <b><a href="/philosophy/essays-and-articles.html">Essays & Articles</a></b>, and <b><a href="/philosophy/speeches-and-interviews.html"> Speeches & Interviews</a></b>.</p> </div> </div> <div class="right-column comment"> <hr class="no-display" /> <p class="announcement"> See the <a href="/audio-video/philosophy-recordings.html"> Audio & Video section</a> for recordings of Richard Stallman's speeches.</p> <hr class="no-display" /> </div> </div> <h3 id="introduction">Introduction</h3> <div class="table"> <div class="left-column"> <ul> <li><a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">What is Free Software?</a></li> <li><a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html"> Why we must insist on free software</a></li> <li><a href="/proprietary/proprietary.html"> Proprietary Software Is Often Malware</a></li> <li><a href="/gnu/gnu.html">History of GNU/Linux</a></li> <li><a href="/philosophy/pragmatic.html">Copyleft: Pragmatic Idealism</a></li> <li><a href="/philosophy/free-doc.html">Why Free Software Needs Free Documentation</a></li> <li><a href="/philosophy/selling.html">Selling Free Software</a> is OK!</li> <li><a href="/philosophy/fs-motives.html">Motives For Writing Free Software</a></li> <li><a href="/philosophy/right-to-read.html">The Right to Read: A Dystopian Short Story</a> by Richard Stallman</li> <li><a href="/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">Why “Open Source” Misses the Point of Free Software</a></li> <li><a href="/philosophy/when-free-software-isnt-practically-superior.html">When Free Software Isn't (Practically) Superior</a></li> <li><a href="/philosophy/government-free-software.html">Measures Governments Can Use to Promote Free Software</a></li> <li><a href="/education/education.html">Free Software and Education</a></li> <li><a href="/philosophy/limit-patent-effect.html">Giving the Software Field Protection from Patents</a></li> </ul> </div> <!-- please leave both these ID 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