[Nottingham] NLUG: What's in a name?

Rory Holland rory at linux.com
Tue Jul 5 15:25:39 UTC 2011


The term Free software often confuses people because "free" isn't used
in the way they would expect. When we talk of "free" software, we
refer not to price, but to freedom.
Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy,
distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it
means that the program's users have the four essential freedoms:

The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it
do what you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a
precondition for this.
The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others
(freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance
to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a
precondition for this.

On 5 July 2011 16:07, Martin <martin at ml1.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Folks,
>
> After the various deliberations, I've updated the following pages on
> our nlug website:
>
> http://nlug.ml1.co.uk/
>
> http://nlug.ml1.co.uk/about
>
> http://nlug.ml1.co.uk/links
>
>
> To add something that I've not seen succinctly described usefully in
> lay-person's terms anywhere on the web: Can someone put some
> /friendly/ words together to describe what FLOSS is and how it works
> to free your home PC to use as you please unencumbered by corporate
> coercion? (Or whatever? :-) )
>
>
> Comments, suggestions, corrections, ideas welcomed.
>
> Cheers,
> Martin
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nottingham mailing list
> Nottingham at mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/nottingham



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