Free software movement

Not to be confused with Open-source-software movement, a related movement.
For related movements beyond software, see Open-source model.

The free software movement is a social movement with the goal of obtaining and guaranteeing certain freedoms for software users, namely the freedoms to run, study, modify, and share copies of software.[1][2] Software which meets these requirements, The Four Essential Freedoms of Free Software, is termed free software.

Although drawing on traditions and philosophies among members of the 1970s hacker culture and academia, Richard Stallman formally founded the movement[3] in 1983 by launching the GNU Project.[4] Stallman later established the Free Software Foundation in 1985 to support the movement.

  1. ^ "What is Free Software?". (gnu.org). Archived from the original on 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2020-03-18.
  2. ^ Richard Stallman on the nature of the Free software movement Archived 2017-05-13 at the Wayback Machine in 2008 on emacs-devel mailing list.
  3. ^ Corrado, Edward M.; Moualison Sandy, Heather; Mitchell, Erik T. (2018-07-03). "Nullis in Verba: The Free Software Movement as a model for Openness and Transparency". Technical Services Quarterly. 35 (3): 269–279. doi:10.1080/07317131.2018.1456849. ISSN 0731-7131. S2CID 196159979. Archived from the original on 2023-07-10. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  4. ^ Stallman, Richard (September 27, 1983). "Initial Announcement". GNU Project. Archived from the original on 2009-03-05. Retrieved 2014-04-18.