OPEN Source

[Ian Lance Taylor]

superm40 at comcast.net (Matthew Seth Flaschen) writes:

> > The free software movement developed out of a desire to be able to 
> > modify existing software packages to fix bugs, add new features, and 
> > customize them for local use. Sharing and learning new code methods 
> > was certainly part of the free software movement, but it was not the 
> > major driver. 
> > 
> > Ian 
> 
> I disagree.  The leader of the original free software movement wrote one of the fundamental freedoms was, "The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this."  Clearly, studying it is the paramount freedom; the others are secondary.

There are four fundamental freedoms listed in
    http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
You quoted one, and that one even says "adapt it to your needs."  In
fact, I read that whole sentence as meaning that you must have the
freedome to study how the program works in order to adapt it to your
needs.  So I don't see anything inconsistent with what I said above,
and I don't see how you can conclude that studying the program is the
paramount freedom.

By the way, I'm not just talking through my hat here.  I've been
writing free software for a long time now, and I've talked to RMS many
times.  I don't speak for him, but I am describing my interpretation
of what I've heard him say.

Ian