# LANGUAGE translation of https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/nit-india.html # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc. # This file is distributed under the same license as the original article. # FIRST AUTHOR , YEAR. # #, fuzzy msgid "" msgstr "" "Project-Id-Version: nit-india.html\n" "POT-Creation-Date: 2021-09-20 15:27+0000\n" "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n" "Last-Translator: FULL NAME \n" "Language-Team: LANGUAGE \n" "Language: \n" "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=CHARSET\n" "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" #. type: Content of: msgid "Speech on Free Software (2004) - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h2> msgid "Speech on Free Software (2004)" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><address> msgid "by <a href=\"https://www.stallman.org/\">Richard Stallman</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "This speech was given on Feb 17, 2004 at the National Institute of " "Technology, Trichy, TN, India." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> We will be starting off with the video conferencing session in " "a short while, audience please note, the questions should be written on a " "piece of paper, and handed over to MOC desk. We have volunteers all around " "waiting with papers, so please use them to ask your questions. Dr. Richard " "Stallman has a hearing problem and therefore he will not be able to " "understand your language." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Ladies and gentlemen, I feel privileged to be given the opportunity to to " "take you through this morning session, which is a trend setter in many " "ways. This is the first time in the history of NIT, Trichy that a video " "conference is going to take place. And the ECE association, prides itself in " "taking this initiative. This wouldn't have been possible without the vision " "and hard work of the staff and the final years. We hope this initiative will " "be the first of many in the future and the good work is carried on in the " "coming years." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Software, a product of digital revolution is a more like magic. Hundreds of " "copies of a software can be made at touch of a button. Portions of code can " "copied and used in another program without much effort. These and lot of " "other properties make it an entirely different beast. A beast that does not " "bow to the conventional copyright laws. But some people for their own " "selfishness have tamed this beast and deprived the society the benefits of " "software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Amidst this rose a man, who vowed to give back computer users their lost " "freedom. He proved to the world not by words, but by action that it is " "possible to produce software without computer users having to give up their " "freedom. A man who needs no introduction, but nevertheless must be " "introduced for sake formality. Dr. Richard Stallman is the founder of the " "GNU project, 1984 to develop the free operating system, GNU. And thereby " "give computer users the freedom, that most of them had lost. GNU is a free " "software. Everyone is free to copy it, and redistribute it, as well as make " "changes, either large or small." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Dr. Richard Stallman graduated from Harvard in 1974, with a B.A in " "physics. During his college years he also worked as a staff hacker, at the " "<abbr title=\"Massachusetts Institute of Technology\">MIT</abbr> AI lab, " "learning operating system development on the fly. In 1984, he resigned from " "MIT to start the GNU project. He has received numerous prizes and awards for " "his work, which need no mention." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Today Linux based systems, variants of the GNU system based on the kernel " "Linux, developed by Linus Torvalds are in wide spread use. There are " "estimated to be some 20 million users of Linux based systems today. And the " "number is growing at an unprecedented rate." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Ladies and gentlemen, meet the man, the driving force of the free software " "movement, Dr. Richard Stallman. [applause] [silence]" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[RMS]</b> Should I start? [silence]" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Can you hear me? [silence]" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Please raise your hands if you cannot hear me. [silence] So, if people " "could possibly be a bit quieter, I guess that I can start." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[MOC]</b> Audience please maintain silence. Thank you." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> Or may be it is just the system that is generating noise. I " "can't tell, I can't hear, if its people talking or it's some artifact of the " "communication system. It's just coming across as lot of noise to me. Just " "turn the volume down some how, I will see how to do that. I don't seem to " "have a control for that. Don't worry about it. Don't turn it all the way off " "though. Just a little bit lower." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I want to have some indication of what's going on in the room, so that I can " "hear you, but the volume may be just a bit too high, so that the room noise " "is getting tremendous." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Okay. Lets see. [silence] Well I guess, I will just start, if that's the " "thing to do. My speech today well… Is it the time I should start. Or " "people are still coming into the room, should I wait a couple of more " "minutes." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[MOC]</b> Sir, we can start." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> I see people coming in. I will wait till the people come in and " "get seated." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[MOC]</b> Sir, it is getting late, I think we can start." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> Okay. What is free software? Free Software is software that " "respects the freedom of the users. This doesn't have anything to do with " "price, at least not directly. I am not talking about gratis software. I " "don't mean software that you get without paying. That is actually a side " "issue that is not particularly relevant. I mean software that you can use in " "freedom. Software that respects the freedoms of the user. Or I should be " "more specific. Which are the freedoms, that I mean." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For programs to be free software, you the user must have four specific " "freedoms. There is freedom zero, the freedom to run the program, for " "whatever purpose in whatever manner. There is freedom one, the freedom to " "study the source code, to see what the program really does. And then change " "it to do, what you want. There is freedom two, which is the freedom to " "distribute copies to others, in other words the freedom to help your " "neighbor. And there is freedom three, the freedom to help build your " "community which is the freedom to publish a modified version, so that others " "can benefit from your contribution." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "All these freedoms, are essential. It's a mistake to think of them as levels " "of freedom, because all four must be present, in order for the software to " "be ethically legitimate." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Why these particular freedoms? Freedom zero is essential so that you can " "have control over your own computer. If you are not free to use the program " "for whatever purpose in whatever manner then your use of your own computer, " "is being restricted. But freedom zero is not enough to have control over " "your own computer, because without more than that you can't control what the " "program does." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Freedom one is essential, freedom one enables to see personally what the " "program really does, and then it change to do whatever you really want it to " "do. If you don't have freedom one, then you do not control what your " "computer is doing, the developer of the program controls, what it's going to " "do on your computer, and you have no recourse." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In fact, its not unusual for developers put in malicious features. This is " "primarily developers nonfree software, that put in malicious features and " "they figure that you cannot take them out. They figure, they will get away " "with it. Because you are helpless. It is very common for nonfree programs to " "spy on the user. And they figure you might not be able to tell that its are " "spying on you, because you can't get the source code and so how would you " "know what it is reporting about you. We found out some cases, where programs " "spy on you. For example, Windows spies on you. 3 years ago there was a " "scandal, because Microsoft setup Windows to report what is installed on your " "disk. It would send this information back to Microsoft. Then there was a " "scandal there was an uproar so Microsoft took it out, and put it back in " "disguise." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "About a year ago, some developers… some researchers found out that, " "they figured out that, Windows XP when it asked for an upgrade, also reports " "to Microsoft, what's installed on your disk. And it does this secretly, it " "sends the list of files encrypted, so that it was impossible for people to " "tell easily that this was going on. They had to work hard [FIXME: 12:10] ??? " "to determine what information Windows was sending back to Microsoft. But, " "Windows is not the only software package, nonfree software package that " "[FIXME: 12:30 spies] on you. Windows media player also spies on you. Every " "time you access something, it sends a report to Microsoft, saying what you " "are looking at. And Real Player also spies on you. So Microsoft is not the " "only nonfree software developer guilty of this kind of special mistreatment " "of the users. The Tivo spies on you. Some people enthusiastic on Tivo, " "because it is based on GNU and Linux to some extent." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But it also contains nonfree software. And it is designed to spy on you, and " "report what you watch. I am told there are many other programs that are " "spy-ware. Then there are programs that do other nasty things to you. For " "instance there are programs that reconfigure your computer, so for instance " "that it will display ads for you all the time, and they don't tell you " "install this program and it will display these ads. They figure that most of " "the users won't notice, they won't will be able to figure out. They figure " "you will install several programs and you won't know which one changed your " "computer's configuration. Or that you won't know how to undo it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Of course, if it were free software this could be fixed. I will get to that " "in a minute. But sometimes they get even worse. Sometimes programs have " "features designed to stop you from doing things. Software developers like to " "talk about how their programs could do things for you. But sometimes they " "design programs that will refuse to do things for you. This is often called " "DRM—Digital Restrictions Management. Where programs are designed to " "refuse to access files for you, to refuse to let you save files, or copy " "files or convert files." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Even more bizarre, there is a malicious feature in the music sharing " "program, Kazaa, where the company… the developers sell time on your " "computer. So, other people will pay Kazaa, so that they can run their " "programs on your computer. They don't pay you. In fact, this was being kept " "secret. The developers of Kazaa didn't say to the users, “By the way, " "we are going to be selling time on your computer.” People had to " "figure this out." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So, I am telling you examples, that I have heard of. But you never know, if " "there is some other nonfree program, how do you it has some malicious secret " "feature. The point is you can't get the source. Without freedom one, the " "freedom to help yourself, the freedom to study the source code and change it " "to do what you want, you can't tell what the program is really doing. All " "you can do is put blind faith in the developer. The developer says, " "“The program does this” Now you either believe it or you don't." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Of course, not all developers of nonfree software are putting malicious " "features. Some really are sincerely doing their best to put in features to " "please the user. But, they are all human, and they all mistakes. These " "mistakes are called bugs. Well, we free software developers are also human, " "and we also make mistakes. Our programs have bugs too. The difference is, " "when you have freedom you can study the source code and you can find " "whatever is bad in the program, whether it is a deliberate malicious feature " "or an accident. Either way you can find it, and then you can fix the program " "to get rid of it. You can make the program better. With nonfree software you " "are just helpless. But with free software you have power over your " "computer. You are in control." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But freedom one is not enough. Freedom one is the freedom, to personally " "study the source code and then change it to do what you want. That is the " "freedom to help yourself. But freedom one is not enough, because first of " "all there are millions of people who use computers but do not know how to " "program. Freedom one is not enough for them. They don't how to personally " "study the source code and change it to do what they want. But even for us " "programmers freedom one is not enough. Because there are so many " "programs. Nobody has time to study them all, and master them all, to be able " "to make changes in each one of them." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So, we need to be able to work together. And that's what freedom three is " "for. Freedom three is the freedom to help build your community, by " "publishing a modified version. So other people can use your version. This is " "what makes it possible for us all to work together taking control of our " "computers and our software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "…That there are a million users and all of them want a certain change " "in a certain program. They want it to work like this way instead. Well, in " "those million people, just by luck, there will be a thousand who know how to " "program. Sooner or later there will be a ten of them, who read the source of " "the program, and made the change and publish a modified version that does " "what they want. And there are million other people who want the same " "thing. So, they will use the modified version. They all get a change to have " "what they want. Because a few of them made the change." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "With freedom three, a few people can make change and it then becomes " "available to many people. And this way, any collectivity of users can take " "control over their software. What happens if there is a group of people who " "want a change but none of them knows how to program. Suppose if only 500 " "people and none of them is a programmer. Now, suppose it is 10000 but they " "are all people who have stores, so that they don't know how to " "program. Well, with free software they can still make use of freedom one and " "three. They can all put together some money and when they have collected the " "money they can go to a programmer or to a programming company and say, " "“How much would you charge, to make this particular change and when " "can you have it done?”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "And if they don't like what that particular company says, they can go to a " "different company and say, “What would you charge to make this change " "and when can you have it done?” They can choose who they are going to " "deal with. And this illustrates the fact that free software means that there " "is a free market, for all kinds of services such as, to make the program do " "what you want. With nonfree software, support is a monopoly, because only " "the developer has the source code and only the developer can make any " "change." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So if you don't like what the program does, you have to go to the developer " "and beg, “Oh, please developer, please do my change for me.” And " "probably the developer says, “You are not important enough, why should " "I care about you. There are just a hundred thousand of you why should I " "care.” But with free software, there is a free market for support and " "if the developer isn't interested in what you want some body else will be, " "especially if you have some money to pay." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "There are users of software who consider good support crucial and they are " "willing to pay money so that they could have good support. In general, " "because free software support is a free market, these users can expect " "better support for their money, if they are using free software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Paradoxically speaking, when you have a choice between several nonfree " "programs to do the same job, which ever one you choose the support for it is " "going to be a monopoly afterwards, so at the beginning you get a choice, but " "afterwards you are stuck in a monopoly. That's the paradox you have a choice " "between monopolies. In other words you get to choose who is going to be your " "master. But a choice of masters is not freedom, with free software you don't " "have to choose a master. You get to choose freedom, you don't have to choose " "between monopolies instead, you continue to have freedom for as long as you " "keep using that program you are using it in freedom." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So I have explained freedom zero, one and three. These freedoms are all " "necessary so that you can have control over your computer. Freedom two is a " "different matter, Freedom two is to help your neighbor by distributing " "copies of the programs to others. Freedom two is essential for a basic " "ethical reason, so that you can live an upright life where you help other " "people." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Now, the spirit… the most important resource of any society is the " "spirit of good will, the spirit of readiness to help your neighbors. Of " "course, nobody spends a 100% of time helping his neighbors, nobody does a " "100% of whatever other people ask. And that is appropriate because you have " "to take care of yourself also. But only extremely bad people do zero to help " "their neighbors and in fact normally in society you have levels of helping " "the neighbors in between, not 0 and not a 100% and these levels can get " "bigger or smaller depending on social change, by how we organize society we " "can encourage people to help their neighbor and help each other some what " "more or some what less and these changes in the levels make the difference " "between a livable society and a dog eat dog jungle. And it is not by " "accident that the world's major religions for 1000 of years have been " "encouraging people to help their neighbors, encouraging a spirit of " "benevolence of good will towards your fellow human beings." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So what does it mean when powerful social institutions start saying sharing " "with your neighbor is wrong, they are discouraging people from helping each " "other reducing the level of cooperation. They are poisoning this essential " "resource. What does it mean when they say if you help your neighbor you are " "a pirate. They are saying that to share with your neighbor is the moral " "equivalent of attacking a ship. That morality is upside down, because " "attacking ships are really really bad but helping your neighbor is good and " "must be encouraged and what does it mean when the start making harsh " "punishments for people who share with their neighbors. How much fear is it " "going to take before people are too scared to help their neighbors." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Do you want to be living in a society filled with this level of terror. The " "only … for what they are doing is terror campaign. In 2 countries so " "far in Argentina and then in Germany, these companies, the developers of " "nonfree software have sent public threats, threatening people would be raped " "in prison for using unauthorized copies of software. The only thing you can " "call it when people are threatening others will rape is a terror campaign " "and we should put and end to this terrorism, right away." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Now, why did I say that freedom two, the freedom to help your neighbor is " "necessary to live an upright life. Because if you agree to license for a " "nonfree program, you have partly participated in the evil. You have put " "yourself in a bad moral situation. By using a program that does not give you " "freedom two, the freedom to help your neighbor, you have put yourself in a " "moral dilemma, potentially. It may never happen, but as soon as somebody " "comes to you and says, could I have a copy of this program. You are now in a " "moral dilemma, where you have to choose between two evils. One evil is make " "a copy help your neighbor, but you violate the license, the other evil is " "you follow the license but you are a bad neighbor." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "They are both wrong, so you have to choose the lesser evil, the lesser evil " "in my opinion is to share with your neighbor and violate the " "license. Because your neigh deserves… presuming this person had done " "nothing wrong, hasn't mistreated you, then he deserves your " "cooperation. Where as, who ever tried to divide you from your neighbors is " "doing something very very wrong and doesn't deserve your cooperation, so if " "you got to do something wrong, you got to do it to somebody who deserves it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "However, once you recognize this, once you realize, that using this nonfree " "program means you are liable to end up with a choice between two evils, what " "you should really do is to refuse to get into that situation, by refusing to " "use the nonfree program, refusing to have the nonfree program. If you insist " "on using and having only free software then you cant ever get into this " "moral dilemma. Because when ever your friend asks you for a copy of the " "program, you will be able to say “sure,” and it wont be any evil " "because free software means you are free to distribute copies. It means you " "have not promised that you refuse to share with other people. You can share " "and there is nothing bad about the situation. So once you recognize that, " "using and having the nonfree program means putting yourself in a potential " "moral dilemma, you say no to it. And that way you avoid the moral " "dilemma. You stay in a position where you can live in a upright life and you " "are not going to find yourself forced to do something wrong." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Once I was in the audience when John Perry Barlow was giving his speech, and " "he asked raise your hand if you don't have any unauthorized copies of " "software and only one person in the audience raised his hand, it was me. And " "he saw that and he said, “Oh, of course you.” He knew that all " "my copies were legal authorized copies because the programs were all free " "software. There are people who made copies from me were all authorized to " "copy the program and give me a copy. And all my copies were authorized." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The information police, who are trying to put people in prison for having " "unauthorized copies, are doing something wrong. What they are doing is " "something illegitimate, what ah… what is it called… NASCOM, " "what they are doing is wrong, but at the same time I don't want to have to " "be sneaking when I give you copies of the software, so I would rather use " "the free software and then I can stand up even with the police watching. And " "I can give you a copy and I don't have to be scared we don't have to live in " "fear, by choosing free software. So these are the reasons that the four " "freedoms that define free software. Freedom zero is the freedom to run the " "program as you seek it. Freedom one is the freedom to help yourself by " "studying the source code and changing it to do what you want. Freedom two is " "to distribute copies to others, and freedom three is the freedom to build " "your community by publishing an improved version, so as to help the other " "users of software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Now, none of these is a question of price. Free software does not mean you " "can get it at zero price. In fact it is perfectly legitimate for people to " "sell copies. That's an example of freedom two, freedom two is the freedom to " "make copies and distribute it to others. That includes selling them if you " "wish. You are free to make copies and sell them. It is true that typically " "people won't pay a large amount of money for their copies, because they know " "that can find someone else can give him a copy, so most people won't pay " "very much for a copy. They might pay a certain amount you know if the price " "is small enough, if it is easier them for them to pay it, than to go hunt " "around and go to the trouble of getting a copy gratis. There are people sell " "copies, and they make some money with it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But people generally can't do is hold the users to ransom, squeezing a lots " "of painful money out of them, because at that point the users will " "redistribute copies to each other, they will make the effort. So free " "software can't be used to squeeze money out of people in a way that hurts " "society. But it doesn't mean that no money ever changes hands it does not " "mean gratis. Sometimes people in India refer it to as Mukth software or " "Swatantra software, to emphasis that we are not talking about gratis. But it " "is true that the savings that users can have because they are not forced to " "pay for permission, can be important for encouraging computer use, in a " "country with lots of poor people, because authorized copies of the software " "can cost more than the computer." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Now the computer can cost this much and the authorized copies of software " "can cost this much. Well, there are lots of people in India who might be " "able to afford the computer, but couldn't possibly afford the software, " "because they can just barely afford a computer. So free software can make a " "big difference in terms of who in India can get a computer and run it. We " "don't see this yet, because a lot of people in India are using unauthorized " "copies. I don't think it is wrong to use unauthorized copies, but we can see " "the developers of nonfree software are trying to make this impossible. They " "have two different ways, one is the terror campaign you know threatening to " "rape people in prison, and the other one is technical changes that can " "prevent the unauthorized copies from running, making people register in " "order for the software to run, you can see this in Windows XP, and there are " "more such measures coming." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So what we can expect is, that it would be harder and harder in India to get " "by using unauthorized copies. And that means computer use in India and " "computer users in India are heading for a train wreck. They are on a course " "that leads to disaster and the thing that India needs to build is, start " "making effort to get on to the other track, to get on to the free software " "track, the track that escapes from this problem. So every social " "institutions in India, every government agency, every school, every " "organization, should be working as quickly as feasible, to switch people " "from the nonfree track to the free track." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But this is not what they are doing. And you can see easily if you look " "around easily, government organization in India are mostly using nonfree " "software. And schools in India are using nonfree software. This is a " "terrible mistake, it is a foolish and disastrous policy, governments of " "course deserves to use free software. Every computer user deserves to have " "the four freedoms, and that includes government agencies that use " "software. But when it is a government agency it has a responsibility, a duty " "to choose free software. Because government agency does data processing for " "the public, and they have a responsibility to maintain control over their " "computers, to make sure that the data processing that they are doing is " "right. They do not, they cannot legitimately allow the processing of data to " "fall into private hands, so our private parties to have control over what " "their computers are doing." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I see a lot of people moving around, what's happening… what's " "happening… I can't hear you, the sound is turned off " "apparently…" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[MOC]</b> Sir, we are collecting questions." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> Any way I hope it is over now. I will continue. So government " "agencies have a duty to make sure that they continue to control, what's " "going on in their own computers." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So I see, you are collecting the questions already. But I am not even " "finished yet! Anyway… I am probably about a half finished. OK, now I " "understand. So okay, I will continue." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Because remember, if you are using a nonfree program, you don't really know " "what it does and you have no control over what it really does. You can't " "tell if there is a back door. There are people who suspect that Microsoft " "has put a back door into Windows or other software. We don't know, because " "we can't see the source code, there is no way to find out, if there is a " "back door. And it is possible also, that some of Microsoft employees put in " "a back door without being asked to. I heard some of the people working on " "Windows XP, were arrested, accused of working a terrorist organization and " "accused of trying to put in a back door. Now, this means, if you are using " "nonfree software, you have be scared that the company, that is the developer " "put in a back door, and you also have to be scared that some developers " "secretly put in a back door, that even the company doesn't know about. The " "point is, that because you can't get the source code, study it and change " "it, you are helpless either way." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "And Microsoft did something really stupid. Well, really absurd. Supposedly, " "they offered various governments access to the source code. But they did it " "in a way that is fraudulent. For instance, they offered the Indian " "government access to the source code of Windows. But, that doesn't mean that " "they offered a copy of the source code to Indian government. Oh No! They " "offered access to a special server site, where a few chosen people from the " "government will be able to login and then single step through programs. And " "supposedly, see what's going on in the source code. But there would be no " "way they could guarantee that the source code they are looking at in the " "server, is the same thing that is running on their own machines. So the " "whole this is a fraud. A joke. Except, the joke would be on the Indian " "government, if it said yes to this project." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "And, meanwhile, even if one organization got access to the source code, if " "your organization doesn't have access to the source code, that doesn't help " "you." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Every school in India should be using free software. So as, to teach the " "children of India to grow up to be free software users. You see, teaching " "these children to become users of nonfree software is guiding them on to the " "track that leads to the train wreck. So schools have to be teaching these " "children to grow up to be free software users." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It should be no surprise, that Microsoft is offering gratis copies of " "Windows to schools in India. They are doing this for the same reason that " "tobacco companies used to offer gratis packs of cigarettes to children. They " "are trying to get children hooked. They are not doing this, to be helpful to " "anybody. They are doing this so as to have more of their grip around these " "children. So, they are asking the schools to become accessories, in " "maintaining their grip. And this should not be surprising. If you compare " "Microsoft with other forms of colonialism, you will see a lot of " "similarities. Because you see, nonfree software is a system of " "colonialism. The developers… Instead of one country colonizing " "another, it is various companies trying to colonize the whole world. And " "they do this, using divide conquer tactics. Keeping the user divided and " "helpless." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "And if you think about it, that is what a nonfree program does, it keeps the " "users divided and helpless. Divided, because you are forbidden to distribute " "copies to other people, forbidden to help your neighbor. And helpless, " "because you can't get the source code and change it. So, with this divide " "and conquer policy, you also see the policy of using the local [45:20] ???? " "to keep everyone else inline. So Microsoft offers special deals, to whoever " "seems to have special influence, to get them to use Windows, and thus keep " "everyone else inline. Governments are being used in this way. And schools " "are being used in this way. The schools of India should reject nonfree " "software, and thus refuse to be used to keep the population of India inline " "and under the domination of the developers of nonfree software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But there are two even deeper reasons, why schools in India should insist on " "free software. One reason is for the sake of education. As people reach " "their teenage years, some of them are going to be fascinated by " "computers. They are going want to learn everything about what is going on " "inside that computer. They are going to want to learn how does this program " "work. If they are using nonfree software, the teacher has to tell them, " "“Sorry, you can't learn that, I can't learn that. It's a " "secret. Nobody is allowed to learn that.” Nonfree software prohibits " "education. But with free software, the teacher can say, “Go " "ahead. Here's the source code for this program. Read it. You can learn. And " "then, now that you have read the source code, try making a change, try " "making a small change in this program. And then try making another. Try " "changing that program. Try changing that program.” And this way the " "students who are fascinated by computers will learn to write good software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "As far as I can tell, some people are born with the skill program, are born " "with their brains growing so that they will have the skill to program. They " "will be natural programmers. But writing clear understandable software is " "something you have to learn. That's judgment. The way you learn is by " "reading lots of source and by changing lots of programs. That way you learn " "what makes a program easy to understand and easy to change. Every time you " "try to read a program and it is hard to figure out a certain part, you learn " "this is not the way to write clear code. Nonfree software doesn't help you " "do this. Nonfree software just keeps you in the dark. But if the schools of " "India switched to free software, then they can offer the students the " "opportunity to learn to be good programmers. To learn the same way I learnt." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In the 1970s, I had a special opportunity. I worked at the AI lab at " "MIT. And there, we had our own time sharing system, which was free " "software. We would share with anybody. In fact, we were delighted anytime " "when somebody was interested in any part of it. We were delighted anytime " "somebody wanted to join us in using it and then help develop it. And so I " "had the opportunity to read all these different programs that were part of " "the system, and make changes in them. And by doing this over and over again, " "for years, I learnt to be a good programmer. I had to go to one particular " "place on earth, to have this opportunity, which was very unusual, very " "rare. Today any PC running the GNU plus Linux operating system, will offer " "you this opportunity. Every school in India that has a computer can offer " "its students the same opportunity, that I could only get at MIT." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So schools should use free software for the sake of education, but there is " "an even deeper reason, because schools are not supposed to teach just facts, " "just skills, but even more deep, they are supposed to teach the spirit of " "goodwill, the habit of cooperating with other people. So schools shall have " "a rule: If you bring software to class, you are not allowed to keep it for " "yourself, you must let the other kids copy it. A rule of good " "citizenship. Of course, the school has to practice its on own. So, the " "school also should only bring free software to class. The software running " "on computers in class should all be free software and this way the schools " "can teach good citizenship." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Three weeks ago… No it was two weeks ago, when i met with Dr. Kalam " "and explained to him about why schools should use free software and about " "how nonfree software is colonial system, I was really delighted, because he " "understood it instantly. He recognized the analogy, how the colonial powers " "tried to recruit the [FIXME: 51:40 weaks] ??? to become their assistants for " "keeping the rest of the population inline. And then, the most delightful " "part was that some people from Microsoft were waiting to see him next. I am " "sure when he spoke with them… that this comparison will go through " "his mind, as they try to convince him to do something or other, as they " "offered some kind of inducement to help keep India inline." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "What happened in that meeting, of course I don't know; because I wasn't " "there in his subsequent meeting with Microsoft. But I'm sure with this " "analogy running through his minds, he would have had some effect and I hope " "it will have some effect on you. When you, as part of the Indian [FIXME: " "52:30] ??? are invited to help keep India inline. That you recognize that " "it's your duty to say no. When somebody invites you to join in a free " "software movement, where we weave our own code together, that you'll " "recognize that this is the way to put an end to colonialism." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Well, when somebody says, “What?! we have an office in India; we were " "spending a million dollars a year paying a few people in India. Doesn't this " "make it okay for us the colonizer of the rest of India.” Well, you " "will recognize how stupid is this. The British employed people in India too, " "but that didn't make colonialism a good thing; didn't make it legitimate; " "didn't make it ethical. Because every computer user deserves freedom." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So I've been explaining why software should be free. So what do we do about " "it? I was thinking about these issues in 1983 and I reached the conclusion " "that software should be free; that the only way to live in freedom is to " "insist on free software. But what can i do about it? If you want to get a " "computer and run it, the first thing you need is an operating system and in " "1983 all the operating systems for modern computers were nonfree, were " "proprietary. So what can I do? The only way you can get a modern computer " "and run it was to sign a contract promising to betray your neighbors. How " "could there be an alternative? The only way to have an alternative, the only " "way to use a computer and within freedom, was to write a free operating " "system." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So I decided I would do that. I was an operating system developer, I've the " "skills to undertake this project. So I decided I would write free operating " "system, or die trying, presumably of old age. Because at that time, the free " "software movement which was just beginning, had no enemies. We just had a " "lot of work to do. So I decided that I would develop a free operating system " "and I decided to make it a Unix like operating system. So that it would be " "portable and so that Unix users would be having easy times switching over to " "this operating system that would give them freedom." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I figured, by making it compatible with some existing popular systems, we'll " "have more users and thus the community of freedom, the free world would grow " "bigger. And I gave the system the name GNU, which stands for GNU's Not " "Unix. It's a humorous way of giving credit to the ideas of Unix. It's a " "recursive acronym and that was a traditional programmers of having fun and " "giving credit at the same time. At the same time the word GNU, is used for " "lots of word plays, it's a word that has a lot of humor associated with it " "which makes it the best possible name for anything. I should explain that " "the word GNU is the name of an animal that was in Africa. We use the animal " "as our symbol. So if you see a smiling animal with some horns that is " "associated with our software, that's a gnu." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So 20 years and 1 month ago, in January 1984, I quit my job at MIT and began " "developing the GNU system. I didn't do it all myself, of course, I was also " "trying to recruit other people to help and gradually over the years more and " "more people joined in. During the 1980s, well we had only a few parts of the " "GNU system; some of these parts were superior and so people would take them " "and install them on their nonfree systems. For instance, the GNU Emacs text " "editor and the GNU C compiler. These were programs that people would learn " "even on top of their nonfree Unix system. But our real goal was not just to " "have a few popular programs, the goal was to make a complete system. So that " "we should reject the nonfree systems; reject nonfree software, escape from " "the bondage of nonfree software. So we kept filling in these gaps in the " "system and by the early 90s we had just one important gap remaining and that " "was the kernel." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In 1991, a college student in Finland, wrote a free kernel and released it " "under the name Linux. Actually in 1991, it was not free. Initially it was " "released under a license which was little too restrictive and did not " "qualify as free. But in 1992, he changed the license and he made it free " "software. At that point it was possible to take this kernel and fit it into " "the gap in the GNU system and make a complete system. The system which is a " "combination of GNU and Linux. This GNU plus Linux operating system now has " "tens of millions of users." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Unfortunately, most of them don't know that it's basically the GNU " "system. They think the whole system is Linux. That's the result of a " "confusion. The people who combined the Linux and the GNU system, they didn't " "realize that they were using Linux to fill this gap. They thought that they " "were starting with Linux, and adding all the other components that were " "needed to make a complete system. Well, all the other components were pretty " "much the GNU system. But they did not recognize that. They thought they were " "starting with Linux and turning it into a complete system. So, they started " "speaking of this entire system as Linux. Even though it was actually more " "GNU. The result is the confusion that you will see today. Many people when " "they talk about the GNU system call it Linux. In fact, if you see someone " "talking about Linux, then unless he is talking about an embedded system, he " "almost certainly means the GNU system with Linux added. But sometimes he is " "talking about embedded systems, and there maybe he really means " "Linux. Because in embedded systems, sometimes people use Linux by itself, " "without the rest of the operating system. You don't need a whole operating " "system in an embedded computer." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So there is a lot of confusion. People say Linux, and sometimes they mean an " "entire operating system that you could run on a desktop or a server, and " "sometimes they mean just this kernel, which is enough for a embedded machine " "and that's all. So, if you want to avoid confusing people, you need to " "distinguish them, use different names for different things. When you are " "talking about the kernel, please call it “Linux.” That was " "written by a person, who chose the name Linux. And we ought to use the name " "he chose. When you are talking of the operating system, that's mostly " "GNU. And when I started developing it, I chose the name GNU. So please call " "this combination GNU plus Linux. All I am asking for, is a equal mention, " "for the principle developers of the system, the GNU project. We wrote the " "largest part of the system, and we had the vision for doing this whole " "job. Please give us equal mention. We need it. We need it, so that we can " "spread the philosophy. Teach people the ethical reasons. The social and " "political issues that are stake here. Why software should be free." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Now, it was suggested I should talk about, some issues having to do with " "hardware. Sometimes, people ask whether hardware also should be free. Well, " "the issue only partly is meaningful. Because you see, what does it mean for " "software to be free. It means that, you are free to use it if you wish, " "study what it does, and change it. And copy it, and distribute copies, " "including modified copies. But you see, ordinary users of hardware, can't " "copy the hardware. There are no copiers. If I am ordinary user of software, " "I can copy it. Because every computer is a copier for software. And I don't " "need any special facilities to be able to study the plans and change them. I " "just need to understand programming. Then I can read the source code, as " "long as the developer will let me have a copy of the source code." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But hardware isn't made by copying. You don't make computers, by putting " "them into a universal copier. You know, if somebody gives you one CPU chip, " "you can't copy that CPU chip to make another identical chip. Nobody can do " "that. There are no copiers. Now what about modifying it. Nobody can modify a " "chip. Once it's made, it's made. There are chips that are customizable. But " "to actually go in and modify the hardware of the chip, is impossible. For " "those chips that are customizable, suppose it is a microcodable chip, or a " "programmable gate array, the microcode, that's software, that's not " "hardware. The pattern of gates circuitry that goes in a programmable gate " "array chip, that pattern is software. That pattern can easily be changed and " "can easily be copied, because it is software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So that will help you understand, how these issues relate to various " "situations. The pattern that you load into something, that's software. And " "the physical object, that's the hardware. The physical object that can't " "just be copied, but has to be made in a factory." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But sometimes, there is a different issue that does make sense for " "hardware. And that is the design spec, visible. You know, can the public get " "copies of design, to find out what the hardware does. Well, this is " "necessary in certain cases, so that you can check for malicious " "features. This is a fairly new issue. In the past, you know, if you go to " "disk controller, you know, it's a card, you are going to put it in your " "computer, you didn't have to worry very much. Is there a danger that there " "will be malicious feature on this disk controller. Because there wasn't " "really much danger. There wasn't much scope for putting in malicious feature " "into people's disk controllers. Because, how would they send a command to " "your disk controller. It just wasn't really feasible, to do those " "things. But, as these controllers get to be more… as the hardware " "gets more and more powerful hardware can be put in a smaller place, it " "becomes feasible, that somebody could put back doors, into your disk " "controller, into your CPU, into your network card. Now, how do you know that " "your network card isn't setup to receive some secret message, which is going " "to tell it to start spying on you somehow." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So these issues start mattering, once the hardware becomes powerful enough, " "we need to insist that we can control what's really inside it. But you " "noticed, that the lot of stuff inside this so called hardware, is really " "software. A lot of device controllers nowadays, have computers in them. And " "there is software to get downloaded into this computer, and that software " "should be free. That's the only way we can trust it. That's the only way we " "can tell that it doesn't have some secret back door feature, to spy on " "us. It has got to be free software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So, the general rule is, if people ask me the question, “Does this " "apply to computers that are embedded?” I thought about this and I " "reached the conclusion, that if new software can be loaded into this " "computer, then it's visibly a computer, it really is a computer, for you the " "user. And that means you must have the freedom to control the software. But " "more recently, another issue is arising, that if the device can talk to the " "network, whether that's the Internet, or the cell phone network, or " "whatever. If it can talk to other people, then you don't know whether it is " "spying on you. So, it has to be free software. Consider for instance, " "portable phones. You shouldn't use a portable, unless the software is " "free. There really have been dangerous malicious features, in portable " "phones." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "There are portable phones in Europe which have this feature, that somebody " "can remotely tell the phone to listen to you. It really is a spy device, in " "the most classical sense. And if you have a portable phone, do you know who " "could be spying on you at any time? You don't unless you are… unless " "the software in your portable phone is a free software. So, we must insist " "on free software for this portable phones. That's just one of the reasons I " "won't use a portable phone. Because the portable phone network is a " "surveillance device. It can keep records of where you go. It can keep a " "permanent record of where you have been at all the time. And I think this is " "so dangerous such as threat to our freedom, that we must refuse to have " "these phones. They're dangerous, they're poison." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Any way for more information I would like to refer you the gnu projects web " "site, which is www.gnu.org and also to the web site of the free software " "foundation of India, which is FSFIndia no sorry… I … no " "it's… It's gnu.org.in that's gnu.org.in. If you would like to help " "free software in India, please get in touch with FSF-India so that you can " "combine your efforts with other people and together you can fight for " "freedom." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "From now I'll accept questions." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Oh boy, am I sleepy!" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> Sir, we will be reading out the questions one by one collected " "from the audience, and… then you can answer the questions." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> Okay, if one person asks multiple questions, please give them " "to me one at a time." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[MOC]</b> Yes, sir." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The first question comes from H. Sundar Raman. His question is, “What " "is the difference between Open Source Software and Free Software?”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "[RMS yawns]" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> I should first explain that Free Software and Open Source each " "has two related meanings." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I am looking at a mirror image of myself. So it's hard to me to see where to " "put my hands." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Each one refers to a categorical software and each one refers to a " "philosophical movement. So there is the free software… the free " "software is a category of licenses. And there is the free software movement " "and it's philosophy. Likewise open source is a category of licenses and a " "philosophy. For we can compare the free software movement and the open " "source movement… sorry, we can compare free software as a category of " "software with open source as a category of software. And we can compare the " "free software movement philosophy with the open source philosophy. And what " "you find is as categories of software they are very close together. Open " "source is a category of licenses just as free software is a category of " "licenses. And these two categories are defined with very different " "language. But so far practically speaking they are pretty similar. There are " "some licenses that qualify as open source but do not qualify as free " "software. How ever they are not used very much. So, if you know that of " "certain program is open source and that's all you know, you can't be sure " "it's free software but it probably is free software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Meanwhile, there are also the two movements and their philosophies. And " "these are very far apart. In the free software movement we have a philosophy " "based on freedom and ethics. We say that you must insist on free software so " "that you can live an up-right life and have freedom to help other " "people. The open source movement was formed specifically to avoid saying " "that, to reject our ethical principles. The open source movement doesn't say " "you should insist on open source software. They say that it may be " "convenient or advantageous. They sight practical values only. They say that " "they have a superior design… sorry a superior development " "model—superior in its shallow technical sense, that it usually " "produces technically better software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But that's the most they will say. They won't say that this is an ethical " "imperative, they won't say that software should be open source, they won't " "say that closed source software is an attempt to colonize you and you should " "escape. They won't say anything like that and in-fact the reason for their " "movement is specifically not to say that; to cover that up. And so when it " "comes to the philosophical foundation what they say and what we say are as " "different as night and day. And that's why I am always very unhappy when " "anybody associates me or my work with open source." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The people who developed, who are motivated by the open source movement, " "they are usually contributing to our community because usually their " "software is free. And that can be a good contribution. But I disagree with " "their philosophy completely. I think it is shallow. And I am very unhappy " "when people label me by their slogan and give people the impression I agree " "with that philosophy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "So next question please." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> The next question comes from Advait Thumbde. His question is " "freedom to copy may not generate enough money; which is essential to fund " "resources for technological development. Where as many rival firms…" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS interrupts]</b> No. That's false. That's false. Money is not " "essential for technological development, not in the software field. May be " "in an other field it is because other fields are much more difficult. It " "cause a lot of money to setup a factory to build hardware. Well, that " "requires an investment. But we have proved, in the free software movement we " "have proved that we can develop a wide range of software with out any " "investment. We proved this by doing it. There are about a million people " "contributing to the free software and most of them are volunteers. Large " "programs has been developed by volunteers, which proves that its not " "necessary to raise a lot of money. It's not necessary to have any money." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Now I suppose that these volunteers are not starving, they are not living on " "the streets. They must have jobs. I don't know what their jobs are, but " "remember that if you look at all computer related employment, only a small " "fraction of that is programming. And most of that is custom software design, " "only a small fraction of that is developing software for publication. To be " "made available to the public. So there are lots of jobs these people might " "have to support themselves. So that they can spend some of their free time " "developing our free software. And this is not a problem as long as we " "develop lots of free software. And we do. The fact is we know this is not a " "problem." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So, the people who say that free software won't work because we can't raise " "enough money, that's like people saying air planes won't work because of we " "don't have anti-gravity. Well, air planes do work which proves we don't need " "anti-gravity. I should also point out there are also people who are getting " "payed to develop free software. The money comes from in-various " "ways. Sometimes these people are extending existing free programs to meet " "the demands of clients. Sometimes, they are getting funding from " "universities or governments." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Governments fund the large fraction of all the software developments in the " "world and except in the rare cases where the software has to be kept " "secret. It could just as well be free software. So we should be spreading " "the word in academia. When you have a project to develop some software, it " "must be free software. It's an ethical requirement to make it free software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Finally, I should say that you might want to get money to do something; you " "might want to make money out of an activity. And this is not wrong, not in " "itself. But if the activity itself is wrong then you can't justify it by " "saying I'm going to get money. You know, the [FIXME 81:00] get money; but " "that's no excuse for robing people. Nonfree software is ethically " "poison. It's a scheme to keep people divided and helpless. It's a form of " "colonization. And that's wrong. So when a person says to me “I'm going " "to make my program proprietary so that I can get money, so that I can work " "full time developing the program” I say to him “That's like " "saying you're going to rob people so that you can get money, so that you can " "spend full time robing people.” It's all wrong. And you shouldn't do " "it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I believe that people who contribute to society made it… Well… " "People contribute to society it's a good idea if we reward them for it. And " "when people are doing things that harm society, it's a good idea if we find " "ways to punish them for it. That will encourage people to do things that " "contribute to society and not to do things that hurt society. And therefore " "people who develop free software should be rewarded and people who develop " "nonfree software should be punished. Because, free software is a " "contribution to society but nonfree software is a scheme to colonize society " "and that deserves punishment not reward." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Another way to look at it is to realize that to use a nonfree program is " "either to be foolish or unethical or both. Which means that, for me, these " "nonfree program …is… might as well be nothing because I am not " "going to use it. Ethical people, people who insists on living an up-right " "life are going to reject it any way. So his program is only avail… " "only going to be of used to suckers. Who don't have well trained " "consciousness. And what good is that? So the person says to me “I can " "only develop this program if I make it proprietary; that's the only way I " "can bring in enough money so that I can spend the time developing this " "program.” I'm not going to tell him that can't be true because I don't " "know his circumstances." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "If he says that there is no way he can develop this program unless he has " "paid full time and if he says that he doesn't know any way to get payed full " "time except to make the program proprietary; I'm not going to tell him this " "is false because he knows his situation. What I will tell him is, " "“Please don't develop the program.” Developing the program in " "that way would be evil or would be harmful. So it's better if you don't do " "it at all. Do something else. Because a few years from now sooner or later " "some one else will be in a different situation. Some one will be able to " "write this program with out subjugating the users. And we could afford to " "wait a few years so that we keep our freedom. Freedom is worth a small " "sacrifice. We can wait a few years." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "So next question." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> His next question is “All intellectual work like books " "are proprietary.” Is it not justified in case of software?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> Well, he is mistaken. There are plenty of free books as " "well. In fact more and more the movement is catching on to makes books free, " "free as in freedom I mean. Now, we started doing this in the 1980's. The " "manuals for GNU software that are developed by the GNU project are all free " "in the sense that you are free to copy them. They are not gratis at-least " "not always. We print copies and we sell them and we sell them for more than " "the production cost because we're trying to raise money. So, you know, of " "course this was to produce re-charge this much because we're trying to raise " "substantial money with these books. But you are free to copy and change " "them. And you could even get the source code through the Internet, the " "source code for the books." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "And now we are not the only ones. There is now a movement for free text " "books. In-fact there are projects in India and elsewhere to develop free " "educational materials to make available to schools. A complete curriculum of " "free educational materials. Because educational materials should be " "free. And so I suggest that you look at the site <a " "href=\"https://www.gnowledge.org\">gnowledge.org</a>. That's like knowledge " "but spells with a <i>g</i> instead of a <i>k</i>. And you will see one of " "these initiatives being carried out by Prof. Nagarjuna in Mumbai." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Also, I should mention the free encyclopedia—Wikipedia. It's the " "largest encyclopedia in history. I believe, it now has more than a hundred " "and sixty thousand entries. Which is far more than any other encyclopedia " "has ever had. Like around twice. And this has been done in just a few years; " "by the public." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So, if we were to believe these threats, ???? people say the only way to " "develop these things, the only way to write and update an encyclopedia is " "proprietary, they are making a threat. They're saying if you don't agree to " "give up your freedom, you won't get the encyclopedia, you won't get the " "software. They're asking us to feel helpless and feel desperate. And that's " "really foolish." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Next question." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> The next question is from Ganapathy. He says “I believe " "the greatest challenge to free software lies in getting quality software " "which means quality software developers. But enough drive has to be there " "for them to spend time and brain. So what do you suggest for getting " "enthusiastic developers.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[RMS interrupts]</b> That's not true." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Well, you know I keep getting questions from people who believe things that " "are demonstrably false. People who are making guesses about our community " "and they're guessing wrong." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The fact is free software has a reputation for high quality. The GNU plus " "Linux operating system initially began catching on back in the 90's because " "of its high quality. People discovered that it would stay up for " "months. That they would find… the only time the system went down is " "when the power failed. And this contrasts with nonfree software that's often " "quite unreliable. So you see this often, you will see people foolishly " "making the assumptions that free software can't work. They don't know any " "thing but they're making it all up. Now, why is this? I guess because " "nonfree software is so common, they make the assumption it must work well." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Do you think that people use Windows because it is good? What a ridiculous " "idea. People use Windows because other people use Windows and that's the " "only reason. Well, no that's not the only reason… they use Windows " "because it comes on their computers. These are the two reasons. The only " "reason that… let any one… one thing in the usual thing why " "does some alternative survive; only because it's better. Free software has " "to be twice as good. In order to get practically minded people to choose " "it. Of course you can hear my scorn in the term practically minded. These " "are people who don't value their freedom." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "They're fools. A fool and this freedom are soon parted. But there are plenty " "of fools; especially in a lot of organizations are people who believe that " "they are not supposed to pay attention to ethics or freedom. They are only " "supposed to pay attention to short-term practicalities. Which is a recipe " "for making bad decisions. For hurting society. But that's the way they " "are. So why is it that even those people some times choose free software? " "Because it has practical advantages. For instances it's powerful and it's " "reliable." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Next question" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> The next question is from Subramani. Distributing the software " "as a free copy is user friendly but is it business friendly. Don't you think " "it will disturb the economic balance in the software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> This is utterly foolish. First of all, remember that I explain " "that free software is a matter of freedom not price. Free software does not " "mean that it is gratis. But sometimes it's gratis. On the other hand some " "time you can get nonfree software gratis. That doesn't make it ethically " "legitimate, because it's still tramples your freedom. It still keeps you " "divided and helpless, even if you didn't have to pay. Schools in India can " "get Windows gratis. But it's still harmful. So the issue is not about " "price. The issue is about whether the software respects your freedom. And " "this… this… idea there is some kind of balance. I don't know " "what in the world he is talking about? But remember if a business is making " "money by subjugating people, that's bad, that's some thing we should bring " "to an end." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "There are many businesses that operate by mistreating people. And those " "businesses are bad. They don't have a right to continue. They deserved to be " "brought to an end. I won't say that nonfree software is the biggest such " "problem. Because, you know child labor is very common but I don't think " "that's mostly free software development. I think it's mostly other " "things. There are many ways that a business can be… can operate that " "is harmful to society. And we have to put in an end to that." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Or in looking at Coca Cola, poisoning people, while draining away the water " "supply from the people. And not only that; they murder union organizers in " "Colombia. So, there is a world wide boycott of Coca Cola company. Coca Cola " "company is, by the way, being sued in the U.S. for arranging with " "paramilitary [FIXME: subs..94:07] to murder union organizers in Colombia. So " "join the boycott. Don't buy Coke." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So I hope… I said this basically to illustrate that there are many " "ways a business can conduct itself unethically. And businesses that conduct " "itself unethically don't have a right to continue. They're not legitimate " "and they shouldn't be treated as legitimate. Nonfree software development is " "an example because what ever the program itself does, the license subjugate " "the users. And that's wrong." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> Windows is supporting regional languages and it's helping the " "people of India but GNU doesn't have this feature. What is your suggestion " "in this regard?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> He is mistaken. You know, I have never given a speech where so " "many questions that make false statements, criticizing the free software " "movement in a ways that are not true. Why is it… you know I can " "understand not knowing. Every one of us is born completely ignorant. And " "every one of us, in any particular subject starts out knowing nothing. But " "why are peoples here are so ready to make assumptions when they don't " "know. Why do not admit you don't know? Why these people believes things " "which are false. Which clearly they don't have good evidence for." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Actually, Windows… doesn't it support all the Indian languages? And " "are the other hand free software does. And it is not just Windows by the " "way, there are many other nonfree software packages and nonfree means you " "can't change it. With free software you can change it. So if you want a " "program to support your favorite language and it's nonfree, you have to beg " "and plead with that developer to cater to you. But if the program is free " "software, you don't have to beg anybody. You can just do it. And this is " "what happening. People in India are adapting GNU/Linux to various different " "Indian languages. And if they haven't yet done your favorite language, you " "can start the project. You are not helpless. Launch the project to support " "your favorite language. You know, even tribal people can localize the system " "to their language. You don't have to have the one of the major recognized " "languages. In order to get support in free software, you just have to be " "willing to do the work." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Next question please." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> Sir, we would like to know how long can we continue this " "question and answer session?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[RMS]</b> Well, certainly I'll do another fifteen minutes." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[MOC]</b> Yes sir." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> Oh, Please don't call me sir. I believe in equality. And it's " "really a sort of bad for me if you call me sir. It might make me get in over " "inflated estimate of how important I am. And that will be bad for me, as " "well as bad for you." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "The important thing here is freedom. I am just its representative." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> The next question is from Vijay Anand. The question is, " "“There are lots of incompatible GNU/Linux distributions. Is this a " "drawback to the free software movement?”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Well, we shouldn't over estimate the extent to which they're " "incompatible. At the source level they are almost all… they are " "mostly compatible, unless you are doing very obscure things. You don't need " "to worry about the variations when you are writing source code. They will " "have different binary and different packaging but that's not a very big " "difficulty. So, I say, no It's not a major drawback. Of course you know, " "having different versions of the system can be good if users… " "different users want them. Now let's contrast this with the kind of " "incompatibility that we have, that we find in the nonfree world. You'll find " "that Microsoft makes gross incompatibilities in each version of its " "systems. They makes… they deliberately make formats incompatible with " "everything else and protocols incompatible with everything else. They try " "many different ways to prevent other people from inter operating with " "them. And each version of a Microsoft package is likely to be incompatible " "with the previous version." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "They impose incompatibility because they have power and they think they can " "get away with it. Whereas in free software world we developers don't have " "power. If I make a decision that you don't like, you are not stuck with " "it. Because you have the source code, you can change it, you can change any " "of my decisions. Whether I make this decision… you know, if " "hypothetically I choose to impose incompatibility on you, you could change " "it, you could take my program and modify it to compatible with " "whatever. Where is… you know, …even if I made a decision that " "you just don't like for some other reason, you can still change it. You can " "change any of my decisions regardless of why I made the decision, regardless " "of why you don't like it; you can change it. So I don't have any power over " "you when I develop free software. You, the users are in control of your " "software. So it will you generally do what you want more or less. But the " "developers of nonfree software, they do have power over you. And so you are " "stuck with their decisions." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> The next question is from Rakesh. “Since the source code " "of free software is available, it is possible for a cracker to introduce " "malicious code into the program and distribute binaries, so that it looks " "like the original. Is this a drawback to the free software movement?”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> Well, we have ways of protecting against this. For instance you " "can get your copies from a reputable distributor and we use digital " "signatures to sign our co… and we use … you know, " "cryptographic [FIXME: catches 1:42:48] the checksums. So that you can see " "the checksum that the developer publish and thus get an assurance that the " "version you have is the correct version." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "[silence]" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> The next question is from Krishnan. The question is, " "“When do you expect the GNU HURD to be available to the public for " "normal use?”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> I have learned I should not try to predict that. A few months " "ago, the HURD developers concluded that they really should switch to a " "different micro kernel. And it's going to take a substantial amount of work " "to do that. So I'm… I'm disappointed by this delay. But it looks like " "that will mean some delay." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> The next question is from Manu Meta… Metallurgy. The " "question is, “Is developing free software on nonfree operating systems " "wrong?”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> Well, it's not exactly wrong. But it's foolish to use the " "nonfree operating system because you can't live in freedom as long as you do " "that. And your software, although it be free, is not a contribution to the " "free world when it doesn't… if it doesn't run on a free operating " "system." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "And in particular you should be careful about Sun's Java platform. Never use " "Sun's Java platform to develop software. And at least not develop free " "software because Sun's Java program is not free. There are free Java " "platforms, but they don't have all the capabilities of the Sun's Java " "platform. So the danger is if you are using the Sun's Java platform you " "might use some features we don't have yet. And you wouldn't even know " "it. You won't notice because you won't notice a problem because it will " "work. It will work on Sun's platform. So then several months later you'll " "try the program on our platform and find that you did months work based on a " "feature we don't have and you will say “Oh! it would be so much work " "to redo that; that I can't do it.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So then your program won't run on a free platform at all. At least not until " "years go by and we have implemented a replacement for that feature. So you " "should use our free Java platform to develop that. Use the GNU Java " "platform… the GNU Java compiler and use the GNU Classpath as the " "libraries. Don't use Sun's Java Libraries, they are not free. So this way if " "you ever start to use a standard Java feature that we don't have, you'll " "find out immediately. And you'll be able to choose some other way of solving " "the problem with out wasting a lot of time." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> What do you think is the greatest obstacle for free software in " "India? How do we break them up?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS</b> I'd say the biggest obstacle for free software in India right " "now is the tendency of government agencies and schools to use nonfree " "software. It's vital to convince the schools to teach the children in India " "to grow up living in freedom. When Windows… Microsoft offers the " "schools gratis copies of Windows, the schools have to say “We are not " "going to accept them; we are not going to participate in teaching our kids " "to be addicts.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> The next question is from Pankaj. The question is “Does " "the availability of source code make them more vulnerable to attacks?”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> Well, [FIXME 108:00] speaking the answer is just opposite. Our " "software is much more secure. People have various speculations about why " "that is the case. I don't know why, but that's what people observe." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[MOC]</b> This is the last question of this conference." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[RMS]</b> Okay." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> The question is, “There was a recent controversy over the " "GFDL. What was the controversy?”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[RMS]</b> Sorry, controversy over what?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[MOC]</b> The GFDL; License." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[RMS]</b> Oh, There are some people who don't like some of the provisions " "of the GFDL. The GFDL arose non-technical sections, sections that give your " "opinions about the… the field and so on, which are in-variant. They " "can't be changed or removed. The GFDL says that the actual subject matter of " "the work, it's designed for manuals. And the GFDL says that the actual " "documentation has to be free, but you could also have opinion sections which " "don't have any documentation but they give your opinion about the ethics of " "the field and so on. And those have to be preserved and can't be " "changed. There are people who think that this is wrong. I think that they " "are being too rigid in their understanding of the freedoms. People need the " "freedom to change the technical substance of the work. And the GFDL provides " "that freedom. But having the authors opinion in there somewhere doesn't " "interfere with your user of the work to do with technical job and doesn't " "interfere with your changing in the work to do a different technical job." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "So if that was the last question then I guess we're done." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[MOC]</b> We thank you sir, for this inspiring and interesting session." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[RMS interrupts]</b> Please don't call me sir." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "<b>[MOC]</b> We thank you Richard, for this inspiring and interesting " "session. You have provided us with immense knowledge over free software. And " "cleared many doubts pertaining to the movement. We now fully understand the " "importance of using free software. We assure this would have earned you many " "followers among the students community of our college. We find " "ourself…" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[RMS interrupts]</b> Happy Hacking and Good Night." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<b>[MOC]</b> A very Good Night to you sir." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "[applause]" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Contributors (in alphabetical order): Krishnan, Saravana Manickam, Vijay " "Kumar, Vimal Joseph." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't have notes. #. type: Content of: <div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S NOTES*" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a " "href=\"mailto:gnu@gnu.org\"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a " "href=\"/contact/\">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and " "other corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a " "href=\"mailto:webmasters@gnu.org\"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, #. replace it with the translation of these two: # #. We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality #. translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. #. Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard #. to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> # #. <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> # #. <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of #. our web pages, see <a #. href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations #. README</a>. #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please see the <a " "href=\"/server/standards/README.translations.html\">Translations README</a> " "for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this " "article." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Copyright © 2004, 2021 Richard M. Stallman, Vijay Kumar" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any " "medium, provided this notice is preserved." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't want credits. #. type: Content of: <div><div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S CREDITS*" msgstr "" #. timestamp start #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Updated:" msgstr ""