Free software is controlled by the users. When you get a copy, you own it.If you buy a house, you are free to change it. If you don’t know how to change it yourself, you can hire a carpenter or a plumber to change it for you. The same with software. Every user can take advantage of the the freedom to change the software. If it’s free, you can persuade your cousin the programmer to change it for you, or you can hire someone.
Nonfree software is controlled by its developer. The developers often implement malicious features—for example, to spy on the user or to restrict the user. Sometimes they keep the malicious features secret. But they also figure that people will be so desperate for the software that they will accept it even with malicious features. Users can’t remove the malicious features, because they don’t have the source code.
This cannot happen with free software, because free software is controlled by the users. If ever a free program had a malicious feature, any programmer could remove the malicious feature and release a modified version—and all users would choose that version, including nonprogrammers. You won’t have to make this change yourself, because someone else will have done the job for you before you get it.
The users of free software also decide how to develop it. On most issues, most users want the same thing. Sooner or later, some user who knows how to program, or has money to pay for changes, will make the changes that you want.
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"Just as a cow with a young calf keeps an eye on it
even when it is eating the grass, so it's proper for a
person to keep an eye on all that can be done for others
who are following the path."
Majjhima Nikaya
"The taxpayer - that’s someone who works
for the Federal Government but doesn’t have to take
the civil service exam"
Ronald Reagan
"Those are my principles; if you don't like
them, I have others."
Groucho Marx
"The hardest thing to understand in the
world is the income tax"
Albert Einstein
