I've written this up as a start for a possible updated free software page:

    https://devuan.org/os/free-software

Deviating from the current page, I didn't enumerate the four essential
software freedoms, instead leaving that for a link near the end. I was
troubled that we didn't credit the FSF with the description of the four
freedoms, so I opted to instead talk about what you could do with free
software in the general sense.

Are there concepts I haven't included that we want to address? I can send a
pull request once we're happy with the shape of the thing.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is free software?

When we talk about free software, we don't just mean it has no pricetag. A
common phrase is "free as in speech, not as in beer." What this means in
practise is that not only can you download and use the software, but you're
free to examine and modify the source code for that software, and give that
software away, either as you received it or with your own modifications and
improvements.

What makes this possible is free software licensing, which comes in a variety
of forms. The concept of the public domain has existed for quite some time,
and it's still used for some software. However, most free software today
relies on copyright to enforce very specific licensing terms. The two forms of
free software license that concern us most are "copyleft" and "permissive"
licenses, exemplified by the Free Software Foundations General Public License
and the BSD licenses, respectively.

The GPL, a copyleft license, says, essentially, that you're free to use the
software for any purpose, but that anyone to whom you give the software must
have all the rights you had when receiving the software. They, too, can study,
modify, and distribute the software. The BSD licenses, which are considered
permissive free software licenses, grant a license to use the software for any
purpose, but don't require the user to share the source code with people who
receive the software, modified or not. In both cases, there is a notice that
there is no warranty offered with the software.

Devuan ships both sorts of free software as part of the operating system.


Why use free software?

Free software benefits from the participation of the global community of free
software developers. The phrase "many hands make light work" applies fully to
free software. Whereas with proprietary software, one company will jealously
guard its source code and use strict, proprietary licensing to prevent people
who use its software from sharing it, free software benefits from the efforts
of many participants. Companies pay free software engineerings to extend free
software to meet their needs, and the fruits of that labour are shared with
the community at large. Individuals find free software projects that appeal to
them, and they spend their time fixing bugs and adding features to make that
software more reliable and featureful.

Given the complexity of today's computers, one area where free software really
shines is software security. Free and open source code is available for
everyone to study, and as such, many flaws and vulnerabilities are fixed
before users can be impacted. For critical vulnerabilities that make it out
into the world, free software guarantees that as soon as a correction is
found, everyone can share that correction, and if multiple corrections are
found, the best can be chosen, or new corrections might be synthesized based
on the work of many authors in understanding and addressing the problem.
Compare this with propriatary software, where few if any people have access to
the source code, and it's up to the lone proprietary software vendor to
idenfity and correct flaws in the software.

Perhaps the biggest reason to participate in the free software ecosystem is
that it empowers computer users to make the world a better place, sharing
their innovations and improvements, finding and fixing bugs, learning and
teaching each other, and sharing a sense of adventure and community that can
be found nowhere else.


Where can I learn more?

There are several organizations that promote the use of free software, and
they've written compelling descriptions of what free software is and why it
matters to them. Here are two of those:

    https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
    https://www.debian.org/intro/free

For more discussion of the GPL and BSD licenses:

    https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0
    http://netbsd.org/about/redistribution.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- 
  Mason Loring Bliss         mason@???        http://blisses.org/  
For more enjoyment and greater efficiency, consumption is being standardized.