wordsmwithing and rewriting in the "Copy and Share" section.

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Bradley M. Kuhn 2014-03-15 12:41:17 -04:00
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\subsection{The Freedom to Copy and Share}
Users may share Free Software in a variety of ways. Free Software
advocates work to eliminate a fundamental ethical dilemma of the software
age: choosing between obeying a software license, and friendship (by
giving away a copy of a program to your friend who likes the software you are
using). Free Software licenses, therefore, must permit this sort of
altruistic sharing of software among friends.
Users share Free Software in a variety of ways. Software freedom advocates
work to eliminate a fundamental ethical dilemma of the software age: choosing
between obeying a software license and friendship (by giving away a copy of a
program to your friend who likes the software you are using). Licenses that
respect software freedom, therefore, permit altruistic sharing of software
among friends.
The commercial environment must also have the benefits of this freedom.
Commercial sharing typically takes the form of selling copies of Free
Software. Free Software can be sold at any price to anyone. Those who
redistribute Free Software commercially have the freedom to selectively
distribute (you can pick your customers) and to set prices at any level
the redistributor sees fit.
The commercial environment also benefits of this freedom. Commercial sharing
includes selling copies of Free Software: Free Software can be sold at any
price to anyone. Those who redistribute Free Software commercially also have
the freedom to selectively distribute (i.e., you can pick your customers) and
to set prices at any level that redistributor sees fit.
It is true that many people get copies of Free Software very cheaply (and
sometimes without charge). The competitive free market of Free Software
tends to keep prices low and reasonable. However, if someone is willing
to pay a billion dollars for one copy of the GNU Compiler Collection, such
a sale is completely permitted.
Of course, most people get copies of Free Software very cheaply (and
sometimes without charge). The competitive free market of Free Software
tends to keep prices low and reasonable. However, if someone is willing to
pay billions of dollars for one copy of the GNU Compiler Collection, such a
sale is completely permitted.
Another common instance of commercial sharing is service-oriented
distribution. For example, a distribution vendor may provide immediate
security and upgrade distribution via a special network service. Such
distribution is completely permitted for Free Software.
distribution. For example, some distribution vendors provide immediate
security and upgrade distribution via a special network service. Such
distribution is not necessarily contradictory with software freedom.
(Section~\ref{Business Models} of this tutorial talks in detail about
various Free Software business models that take advantage of the freedom
to share commercially.)
(Section~\ref{Business Models} of this tutorial talks in detail about some
common Free Software business models that take advantage of the freedom to
share commercially.)
\subsection{The Freedom to Share Improvements}