The Free Software Foundation has stated, "Our goal is a world where all
programs are free, so that all their users are free." But thinking about a
world where all software is free has called some serious questions into mind.
Essentially, if all software was free, how would anyone be able to profit
from selling software? Would anyone be able to profit from selling software?
Think about this scenario in the world for which the FSF strives: you find
that somebody's created a really nice program, but the developer is charging
a large sum for it. You simply search for one of the millions of mirrors that
have sprung up to redistribute software, and download the program from there.
There would be absolutely no market for software, because it would all
be...free. Then there's the risk that the mirrors might contain malware
(something that proprietary software prevents by not allowing modification).
And what about the miniature operating systems in appliances and such? Would
those be free software, too?
I support the ideas of free software - enough to install Trisquel - but I'm
not sure it's totally sustainable in the long run.
- [Trisquel-users] What if we win? ejectmail
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