---
title: "Why you should use free software?"
date: 2021-06-24
layout: wiki
wiki: freeguide
tags: [compilation, "free software", "proprietary", reason]
---

Free software is about freedom, not price[^1].  *Freedom* here refers to:

0. The freedom to **run** the program as you wish, for any purpose
   (**freedom 0**).
1. The freedom to **study** how the program works, and **change** it so it
   does your computing as you wish (**freedom 1**). Access to the source code
   is a precondition for this.
2. The freedom to **redistribute** copies so you can help others
   (**freedom 2**).
3. The freedom to **distribute copies of your modified versions** to others
   (**freedom 3**). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to
   benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for
   this.

At first glance, you would think that most users would only benefit from
**freedom 0** and **freedom 2**.  While it is true that most would not
exercise freedom 1 and freedom 3, they do indirectly benefits users.  Because
the original programmers allows derivative programs to be distributed, they
cannot implement malicious anti-features, such as spying or fraud without being
spotted.  Being free software is thus the prerequisite for being
user-respecting software.

There are of course competing reasons for choosing software, such as
user-friendliness/ease-of-use.  While these requirements are rather subjective,
I do agree that some free software programs have less fancy UI (like ) and
sometimes not easy to use (like GIMP).  It is up to you to decide the balance
between criteria, but there is certainly strong reasons to prefer free
software, *ceteris paribus*[^2]

The content below consists of lists of bad examples of proprietary software, as
well as some example of free software turning bad[^3] which resulted in forks.

(It's empty right now, see GNU list below or contribute)

-----

Other lists:

- [GNU's list of malicious functionalities with references][gnu-list]

[gnu-list]: https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary.html

[^1]: <https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>
  The word "free" was used despite its ambiguity for lack of better word.
[^2]: All else being equal, but in fancy Latin.
[^3]: Subjective, I know.