Free software

:This article is about Free Software as defined by the sociopolitical Free Software movement; for information on software distributed without charge, see freeware. For other uses, see free software (disambiguation).

Social significance of free software

Soon after free software begins circulation, it becomes available at little to no cost. When free software spreads, its utility is constant, or even increases due to network effects. Thus, free software is a pure public good rather than a private good.

Related Topics:
Utility - Network effect - Pure public good - Private good

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another way free software is thought to be significant to society is due to its freedoms that result in lower cost than proprietary software. Due to this fact free software is becoming popular in third world countries.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Furthermore, the openness of free software eases internationalization.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

International cooperation through free association produces most free software.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Oekonux and Hipatia projects contend free association could produce everything.

Related Topics:
Oekonux - Hipatia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Free association is also used for wiki writing, such as Wikipedia and give-away shops.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While the politics of Free Software are unclear it is clear that it has become not only economically but also politically significant. SCO CEO Darl McBride and others have tended to characterise Free Software as communist while others maintain that its economic footprint is largely free market oriented and therefore capitalist, particularly for businesses with a services model. It is perhaps more interesting to analyse Free Software's goals - its four freedoms - in terms of positive and negative liberty. Before proceeding, it is worth noting that a computer program is inanimate and therefore not political in its own right, when we speak of the politics of Free Software we seek to understand its social effects in the larger human context.

Related Topics:
Darl McBride - Communist - Free market - Capitalist

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The four freedoms are couched in positive language, simply, users are granted the "freedom to" run, modify and reproduce the software but not granted "freedom from" anything that might prevent them from doing so. This observation is flawed when free software licences are considered in contrast to the proprietary licencing alternative. Users are given the right to use software for any purpose and are therefore free from the protective clauses of proprietary licences that are designed to limit liability or increase profits for a single vendor. If users wish to employ a Free Software program to develop nuclear weapons or service the needs of 1000 colleagues then they are not prevented from doing so by contract but only by circumstances unrelated to the licence, such as local laws and computer hardware. Similarly, the freedom to modify a program and release your improvements can also be seen as protecting groups within society from external coercion by more powerful groups through the deployment of technical implementations that prevent certain kinds of communication or activity. As an example, users are granted sufficient rights that they can correct any technical flaws in the software that affect their choice of software product that they wish to use by adding features, removing incompatibilities or creating new versions with new interopability functions. It is this and related effects on the technology market that have tended to lead to a capitalist or right-wing interpretation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~