Richard Stallman, the father of GNU, talks about the differences between free software and open-source software

Free software and open source software are often used together. But last night, Richard Stallman attended a presentation at the Australian Computer Society's radian branch, undoubtedly, he has accepted his views on the differences between the two philosophical meanings.

He said that the advantages of open-source software are often described as valuable and reliable software, while the free software movement advocates freedom of use. He explained that it is because free software can be continuously improved, and the use of non-free software will lose this freedom.

These two camps have different opinions on copyright software. It has become more and more common to run copyrighted software such as Oracle databases on GNU/Linux (Stallman also gave an exception and we will explain the cause later ), however, such behavior seems unacceptable to freedom software supporters. To explain why, we must first look at Stallman's definition of free software, which introduces four freedom for users:

Freedom 0: runProgram.

Freedom 1: the freedom to study how programs run and adapt to user needs.

Freedom 2: there is the freedom to resend software copies, so you can help your neighbors.

Freedom 3: The whole group will benefit from the freedom to improve programs and make public releases better.

Without these freedom, it is ethical to say that using software sometimes brings people a dilemma. What if your neighbor sees that you are running a software and realizes that the software is useful and asks for a copy? If the program is not a free software, you have to choose one of the two "evil": a bad neighbor who does not help, or a violation of the software license. The latter is often less evil, he argues, because those organizations have delayed your work by providing copyright software, but you still have to keep your promise. Furthermore, when you make the copying of non-free software more widely spread, more recipients will face the same dilemma. To solve these problems, Stallman said, the only answer is to use free software.

The spirit of goodwill and fraternity is the most important fortune in society. He said that this spirit is also the difference between human society and the dog-biting group. While some organizations are "poisoning" such resources, he said: "They are terrorists. We must end their terrorist wars ."

Freedom 1 protects users from some hidden surveillance, which may interfere with malicious features that threaten their security. Stallman did not say that all copyright software would do this, But he listed several such widely used programs, including Windows XP search, Windows Update, Windows Media Player, and RealPlayer. He also pointed out that an unauthenticated attempt to create a backdoor in Windows failed and he was wondering if there were other successful attempts.

Allow accessSource codeIt also means that if you do not like some of these features, you can change this program. However, not every computer user is a programmer, and for a person, the number of free software is always much larger than the number that a person can see or change, he said. If enough people like a specific version, it will become universal. This also means that users can establish a fund and pay for the programmer to reach an agreement for some improvement. Therefore, free software also forms a free market for support and services, which is not exclusive to the original developers, Stallman explains. "Freedom is not to choose between a bunch of masters, but freedom is to have no masters ."

So why choose "GNU/Linux" instead of "Linux "? Twenty years ago, Stallman discovered that he was mentally unable to accept work for non-free software. Therefore, he set a goal for himself to build a complete UNIX replacement product. According to the "smart" style, he named the project GNU, a recursive abbreviation of GNU's not UNIX. He also invited others to help. In the end, he dismissed his work at MIT in March to ensure that his organization did not have any comments about his work. "I have never looked for a job since then," he said. "I also got rid of all the luxury habits ."

Earlier in 1990, the system was basically completed, and most of them were also released under the GNU General Public License to ensure that users can have the four types of freedom. However, the system lacks a kernel. Although Stallman uses the Mach microkernel, It is faster than writing it from the beginning, but "it is not reliable to run ".

In 1991, the Linux kernel appeared. In 1992, it was released with the gnu gpl license. With Linux and GNU, a complete free operating system software is formed. "That's what people do," Stallman said. But people are confused about this, and began to call the entire thing "Linux" rather than realizing that the entire system is mainly GNU. "

He does not devalue the importance of Linux core. Instead, he thinks it is a complete system that takes GNU over the final line and makes it a new computer. Stallman is anxious that the current confusion interrupts the connection between the free software spirit and the software itself.

Linustorvalds only wants excellent technical software, Stallman said, while others are following this standpoint while arguing about the GNU spirit, but cannot realize that they are just GNU users. In general, people call this kind of spirit impractical while enjoying its actual results, he said. There are tens of millions of GNU/Linux users, Stallman said, but most of them have never heard of this idea and spirit, so they need education to understand and protect this spirit. "This is an unfinished job for our group ." He said.