{"id":7860,"date":"2020-08-12T07:59:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T07:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/?p=7860"},"modified":"2023-07-25T10:19:25","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T10:19:25","slug":"what-is-free-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/what-is-free-software\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Free Software"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Many a time the issue of whether or not to buy a piece of software comes along. Lets look at what it means with Free and free software. <strong>Free software<\/strong> refers to software that gives users the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Specifically, it means that the software comes with four essential freedoms: the freedom to use the software for any purpose, the freedom to study how the software works and make changes to it, the freedom to redistribute copies of the software to others, and the freedom to distribute improved versions of the software to others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"gtech-migrated-from-ad-inserter-placement-2\" style=\"text-align: center;\" id=\"gtech-345731306\"><div style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\" id=\"gtech-2151630888\"><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/linkout\/78735\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"notrack\" aria-label=\"005\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/media\/2026\/03\/005.webp\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/media\/2026\/03\/005.webp 1000w, https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/media\/2026\/03\/005-768x768.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\"  style=\"display: inline-block;\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div><p>These freedoms are important in ensuring that users have control over the software they use and that they can use, share, and modify it to suit their needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Free software is a matter of liberty, not just the absence of cost. Users are legally free to do what they want with their copies of free software, including profiting from them, regardless of how much is paid to obtain the program. Free software is different from freeware, which is a type of proprietary software that is released without charge to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full has-custom-border\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/media\/2023\/07\/free-software-jpg.webp\" alt=\"free software\" class=\"wp-image-21573\" style=\"border-radius:10px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/media\/2023\/07\/free-software-jpg.webp 1024w, https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/media\/2023\/07\/free-software-300x188.webp 300w, https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/media\/2023\/07\/free-software-150x94.webp 150w, https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/media\/2023\/07\/free-software-768x480.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">free software<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To be considered free software, a program must meet the four essential freedoms: the freedom to run the program as you wish, the freedom to study and change the program, the freedom to redistribute exact copies, and the freedom to distribute modified versions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Free software is a political and ethical choice that asserts the right to learn and share knowledge with others. The free software movement was started in 1983 by computer scientist Richard M. Stallman, who launched a project called GNU to provide a replacement for the UNIX operating system that would respect the freedoms of those using it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-palette-color-3-color has-palette-color-1-background-color has-text-color has-background\">Today, free software is available for just about any task you can imagine, from complete operating systems like GNU to over 5,000 individual programs and tools listed in the FSF\/UNESCO free software directory<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fsf.org\/about\/what-is-free-software\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What is Free Software?\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UFfCATB1ezo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCc6MhFTqnuIpEGgLBm_jwtw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Nerd on the Street &#8211; Tech<\/strong><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\">More Information \u2139<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/i\/free-software\/\">Free software<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/i\/gnu\/\">GNU<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCc6MhFTqnuIpEGgLBm_jwtw\" target=\"_blank\">Nerd on the Street &#8211; Tech<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fsf.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Free Software Foundation<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gnu.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">The GNU Operating System<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"gtech-end-cont\" id=\"gtech-1293037137\"><div style=\"margin-right: auto;margin-left: auto;text-align: center;\" id=\"gtech-3417126295\"><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/linkout\/76065\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"notrack\" aria-label=\"26002\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/media\/2025\/10\/26002.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/media\/2025\/10\/26002.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/media\/2025\/10\/26002-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\"  style=\"display: inline-block;\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Free software is a political and ethical choice that asserts the right to learn and share knowledge with others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":21572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[250,1216,365,741],"class_list":["post-7860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","tag-developers","tag-free-software","tag-gnu","tag-computer-software"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}