The GNU Manifesto | Page 6

activity. The
main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against competition. Free
software will greatly reduce these drains in the area of software production. We must do
this, in order for technical gains in productivity to translate into less work for us.
Footnotes
(1) The wording here was careless. The intention was that nobody would have to pay for
*permission* to use the GNU system. But the words don't make this clear, and people
often interpret them as saying that copies of GNU should always be distributed at little or
no charge. That was never the intent; later on, the manifesto mentions the possibility of
companies providing the service of distribution for a profit. Subsequently I have learned
to distinguish carefully between "free" in the sense of freedom and "free" in the sense of
price. Free software is software that users have the freedom to distribute and change.
Some users may obtain copies at no charge, while others pay to obtain copies--and if the
funds help support improving the software, so much the better. The important thing is
that everyone who has a copy has the freedom to cooperate with others in using it.
(2) This is another place I failed to distinguish carefully between the two different
meanings of "free". The statement as it stands is not false--you can get copies of GNU

software at no charge, from your friends or over the net. But it does suggest the wrong
idea.
(3) Several such companies now exist.
(4) The Free Software Foundation for 10 years raised most of its funds from a
distribution service, although it is a charity rather than a company. You can order things
from the FSF.
(5) A group of computer companies pooled funds around 1991 to support maintenance of
the GNU C Compiler.
(6) In the 80s I had not yet realized how confusing it was to speak of "the issue" of
"intellectual property". That term is obviously biased; more subtle is the fact that it lumps
together various disparate laws which raise very different issues. Nowadays I urge people
to reject the term "intellectual property" entirely, lest it lead others to suppose that those
laws form one coherent issue. The way to be clear is to discuss patents, copyrights, and
trademarks separately. See further explanation of how this term spreads confusion and
bias.
(7) Subsequently we have learned to distinguish between "free software" and "freeware".
The term "freeware" means software you are free to redistribute, but usually you are not
free to study and change the source code, so most of it is not free software. the Confusing
Words and Phrases page for more explanation.
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Copyright (C) 1985, 1993, 2003, 2005 Free Software Foundation, Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MAÊ02110, USA
Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies of this document,
in any medium, provided that the copyright notice and permission notice are preserved,
and that the distributor grants the recipient permission for further redistribution as
permitted by this notice. Modified versions may not be made.
Updated: $Date: 2005/07/13 15:42:47 $ $Author: wkotwica $
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