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11 Janvier 2021
The principles of Free Software are simple but it is important to not get confused by the underlying complexity caused by its long history. Learn about the four freedoms and their meaning, the fundamentals about Free Software licenses, the advantages that Free Software provides, and the most common synonyms.
FreeNAS is an operating system that can be installed on virtually any hardware platform to share data over a network. FreeNAS is the simplest way to create a. OpenFOAM is the leading free, open source software for computational fluid dynamics (CFD), owned by the OpenFOAM Foundation and distributed exclusively under the General Public Licence (GPL). The GPL gives users the freedom to modify and redistribute the software and a guarantee of continued free use, within the terms of the licence.
Looking beyond the circle of software itself, you can read more about the interplay of Free Software with other fields like education, procurement and democracy.
Free Software refers to freedom, not price. It guarantees its users the essential four freedoms. The absence of at least one of these freedoms means an application is proprietary, so non‐Free Software.
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Free Software can be used for any purpose and is free of restrictions such as licence expiry or geographic limitations.
Free Software and its code can be studied by anyone, without non‐disclosure agreements or similar restrictions.
Free Software can be shared and copied at virtually no cost.
Free Software can be modified by anyone, and these improvements can be shared publicly.
The four freedoms are given by a software licence. Software licences define the conditions under which a programme can be used and reused. For it to be Free Software, the licence text must contain at least the four freedoms. The Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Initiative maintain lists of reviewed and approved licences. An application can usually not be considered Free Software if its licence does not appear in one of these lists.
There are a multitude of licences with different focuses, and a software product or parts of it can also be licenced under more than one licence. The actual selection is a strategic question but you are advised to pick one of the most widely used licences.
Free Software is about freedom. In practice, this provides numerous advantages for users, organisations, businesses and governments.
Free Software helps to develop and maintain tailored software that suits your needs, not just the vendor's business model.
Free Software can be shared and used in a non-exclusive way by everyone – serving the public good.
A Free Software licence allows a limitless number of installations to be run, without paying extra.
Free Software licenses reinforce independence from vendors and provide more choice in service providers.
Free Software provides the freedom to reuse the code for other projects.
A Free Software licence encourages innovation for your software.
Free Software resists monopolisation and enhances competition.
Free Software allows for independent security checks that help close security holes faster.
Over the course of time, people came up with additional labels for Free Software. Often the motivation for these terms is to highlight different aspects and to avoid confusion.
Free Software was first defined with the four freedoms mentioned above by the GNU project in 1986. In 1998, 'Open Source' was set up as a marketing campaign for Free Software but with the same freedoms in mind. Other widely known labels for Free Software are 'Libre Software', initiated to avoid the ambiguity of the English word 'free', and 'FOSS' or 'FLOSS' as abbreviations for 'Free (Libre) Open Source Software'.
The level of freedom particular software offers is always determined by the licence, not the label. In other words, don't get confused by different terms for the same features. If you are interested in the historical background and why we prefer the original term, you can Read more..
The numerous advantages of Free Software are a benefit in themselves, but also contribute positively to other technical and non-technical fields. Since the FSFE's foundation in 2001, we have been exploring different areas and how Free Software can make a difference.
Our successes are driven by the efforts of supporters and activists like you all around the world. Please take a moment today to make a contribution, by joining the FSF as an associate member, making a tax-deductible donation and volunteering your time.
What are the latest things happening for the campaigns team? Check out the FSF Community Blog, maintained by the campaigns team. Have an idea for something we should cover? Drop us an email. Looking for simple action items, or have an idea for a simple action item for free software supporters? Check out the Action items page at libreplanet.org.
The FSF's High Priority Projects list and Reverse Engineering Task List serve to foster the development of projects that are important for increasing the adoption and use of free software and free software operating systems. Some of the most important projects on our list are 'replacement projects'. These projects are important because they address areas where users are continually seduced into using nonfree software by the lack of an adequate free replacement. These are critical projects that need your help.
The Free JavaScript campaign is an ongoing effort to persuade organizations to make their Web sites work without requiring that users run any nonfree software. By convincing influential sites to make the transition, we raise awareness of the need for free software-friendly Web sites and influence the owners of other sites to follow.
When done correctly, 'Secure Boot' is designed to protect against malware by preventing computers from loading unauthorized binary programs when booting. In practice, this means that computers implementing it won't boot unauthorized operating systems -- including initially authorized systems that have been modified without being re-approved.
This could be a feature deserving of the name, as long as the user is able to authorize the programs she wants to use, so she can run free software written and modified by herself or people she trusts. However, we are concerned that Microsoft and hardware manufacturers will implement these boot restrictions in a way that will prevent users from booting anything other than Windows. In this case, we are better off calling the technology Restricted Boot, since such a requirement would be a disastrous restriction on computer users and not a security feature at all.
Microsoft uses draconian law to put Windows, the world's most-used operating system, completely outside the control of its users. Neither Windows users nor independent experts can view the system's source code, make modifications or fixes, or copy the system. This puts Microsoft in a dominant position over its customers, which it takes advantage of to treat them as a product.
Windows comes with plenty of 'features' Microsoft won't tell you about. Because Windows is proprietary software, you can't modify Windows or see how it is built, which means Microsoft can use its operating system to exploit users and benefit special interests. Windows 10's privacy policy asserts the privilege to sell almost any information it wants about users. And starting with Windows 10, Microsoft will begin forcing lower-paying users to test less-secure new updates before giving higher-paying users the option of whether or not to adopt them.
Learn more about our campaign and pledge to upgrade away from Windows at http://www.upgradefromwindows.com
If we want to defang surveillance programs like PRISM, we need to stop using centralized systems and come together to build an Internet that's decentralized, trustworthy, and free 'as in freedom.' Check out the surveillance campaign area to get involved with the effort to make the Web in general safer and from surveillance.
On an individual level, we also need to start encrypting our personal communication to make bulk surveillance much more difficult and to protect the people we communicate with. Try Email Self-Defense, our beginner's guide to email encryption, to get started in less than an hour.
Free software is simply software that respects our freedom — our freedom to learn and understand the software we are using. Free software is designed to free the user from restrictions put in place by proprietary software, and so using free software lets you join a global community of people who are making the political and ethical choice assertion of our rights to learn and to share what we learn with others.
To make donations to specific free software projects while supporting the FSF at the same time, learn more about the Working Together for Free Software Fund. Projects interested in joining the fund can visit our fiscal sponsorship page for more information.
This is a campaign aimed at getting new users into free software.
The GNU operating system is a complete operating system made entirely of free software. Millions of people are using GNU every day to edit their documents, browse the web, play games, and handle their email, or as part of a GNU/Linux system on their home computer. Even people who have never heard of it use GNU everyday, because it powers many of the sites they visit and services they use. Learn more about GNU, and support progress on fully free operating systems by volunteering or donating to the FSF.
Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) robs us of control over the technology we use and the culture we live in. DRM and the DMCA can make it illegal to share an article, back-up your kids' favorite DVD, or move your music from one player to another. Since DRM is inherently incompatible with free software, it also excludes free software users from equal participation in culture. Now, we are facing a new threat: DRM in HTML5. Millions of Internet users came together to defeat SOPA/PIPA, but now Big Media moguls are going through non-governmental channels to try to sneak digital restrictions into every interaction we have online.
DefectiveByDesign.org is our anti-DRM campaign, where we mobilize large vocal communities to reject products from businesses that insist on using to DRM to control their customers. Learn more at DefectiveByDesign.org and the campaign wiki. Audio song cutter software free download.
The PlayOgg campaign (playogg.org) promotes the use of free audio and video formats unencumbered by patent restrictions, rather than MP3, QuickTime, Windows Media, and AAC, whose patent problems threaten free software and hinder progress. We also promote the use of the new 'video tag' standard as an alternative to Adobe Flash for embedding audio and video in webpages. Find out more about PlayOgg at playogg.org or at the campaign wiki. You can also join the PlayOgg volunteer team to push companies and services to use Ogg by joining the mailing list.
Software patents create a legal nightmare for all software developers and pose particular problems for the free software movement. So as the FSF campaigns for formats that are free of software patents, we also work on the more fundamental task of ending software patents entirely, through legal and legislative action. Can you game on macbook pro. Learn more at EndSoftPatents.org, see the wiki, join the action alert mailing list.
Our OpenDocument campaign fights for the use of free formats in government documents, pushing governments to adopt policies requiring that all digital public documents and information be stored and distributed in formats that are standard, open, and royalty-free. OpenDocument Format (ODF) is one such format. Get involved and take action against Microsoft Office Open XML.
Hardware manufacturers are often negligent in offering support for free software. Our hardware directory helps people identify hardware to buy that works with their free software operating system. It is also an important part of the FSF's ongoing work to persuade hardware vendors to respect free software users. For more information on the FSF's plans, read our whitepaper: The road to hardware free from restriction, or see its most recent revisions on its LibrePlanet wiki page.
January 2018: Read about the threat presented by the Intel Management Engine.
The BIOS is a computer's Basic Input/Output System, which boots the operating system and provides the interface between it and the hardware components. Though users are rarely aware of the BIOS, its foundational role makes it a user freedom chokepoint; if it is not free, users cannot trust it not to modify their computers on behalf of the company that wrote it. Our campaign for a Free BIOS promotes free BIOSes like Libreboot and librecore. Explore their Web sites to learn how to install a free BIOS or get involved in development and testing or read more from the FSF. The FSF is also pushing for the creation of a laptop with a free BIOS.
The FSF welcomes volunteers in all of its campaigns. You can keep up with the most important happenings in our campaigns by following our news feed, blogs feed, and the #fsf IRC channel.
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Read this page in Spanish. Please note that the Spanish page is out of date. If you're interested in helping to update translations, please visit Guide to Translating Web Pages.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom.
FeaturedLibrePlanet is our network of free software activism around the world, including in-person events like our annual conference, and online collaboration spaces.
'This community that we have, that we're building, that does so much, hasto grow. We can't compete with Apple, we can't compete with Google,directly, in the field of resources. What we can eventually do is headcount and heart count. We can compete on the ground of ideology becauseours is better.'
-- Edward Snowden, NSA whisteblower, speaking at LibrePlanet2016.
The FSF's limited edition 35th birthday art was designed by illustrator and artist David Revoy.
14 new GNU releases in the last month (as of October 26, 2020):
'Rewind' is an animated video made for the Free Software Foundation (FSF) about a scientist in a dystopian reality who modifies the code of a program, leading to a groundbreaking discovery. But in our world, which is dominated by proprietary software, would she have the freedom she needs to make a difference? Can i watch directv on my macbook.
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