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Free Software
Free Software is software whose source text is released by the originator and provided to the general public. The licenses make it possible to use the software for any purpose, to change it, and to process it further, both in the original and in changed form. Free Software is defined by the following four freedoms:
- The freedom to use a program for any purpose.
- The freedom to see how a program works and use it for one's own purposes.
- The freedom to make copies for others.
- The freedom to improve the program and make these improvements accessible for the general good.
Licenses that do not grant these freedoms are called "proprietary" or "unfree." "Open Source" has established itself as an alternative name for Free Software. Free Software is to be differentiated from the term "freeware". Here, the use of the software is free of cost, but there is no freedom in regard to the software itself, i.e. in regard to its source code. The most well-known example of common, Free Software development is GNU/Linux.
q.v.: Open Source GNU/Linux Freeware
