The+Free+Software+Movement

=The Free Software Movement= toc

History of Free Software
There are fascinating parallels between the free software movement and the cultural commons described by Bowers. In order to understand these similarities, it is important to know the history of free software and its role in the creation and maintenance of the virtual commons.

In the beginning of software development, software engineers shared their software with each other freely and openly. They were mainly the employees of universities and other institutions of higher learning and developed the software to aid themselves and others in research and other activities. They had little incentive to close off rights to their software, so they shared it with one another. In this way, they behaved similarly to the earliest farming and ranching communities. They shared their skills, techniques, knowledge, and even resources with each other with no expectation of financial restitution. (Stallman, 2011) In fact, the concept that software would be anything other than free was foreign to those early pioneers. Again, this is similar to the freedom of land, air, and water that has been part of the commons since the beginning of civilization. The idea of creating profit and monetizing these communal ideas and resources is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Eventually, entrepreneurs saw an opportunity for profit within the burgeoning software community. Companies were formed and software engineers were hired to produce for-profit programs and operating systems. In order to protect their "intellectual property", these companies created licensing agreements and non-disclosure agreements that forced users to agree not to copy, modify, or share their software. Suddenly, the once free and open commons of the software community was divided and fenced off from one another. (Levy, 2000)

In light of these changes, a small group of programmers at MIT decided to reject the closed-off and monetized community being created by the first software companies. Richard Stallman and others decided that they needed to create a set of software tools that could be used, modified, copied, and distributed freely by any user. They started by creating a free operating system, the software that allows other pieces of software to use a computer's hardware, and setting up the [|Free Software Foundation] to propagate their ideals.

The classic book and documentary on the history of software, //Hackers: Wizards of the Electronic Age//, outlines this history.

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What is Free Software?
The Free Software Foundation likes to distinguish itself from the broader open source software movement. Briefly, free software is software that allows users to keep their rights and freedoms when using it instead of having to agree to give them up. Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation, outlined a set of principles for free software and drafted a software license that can be (and is) distributed with free software to ensure it stays open and freely useable by anyone.

The basic "[|manifesto]" of the free software movement outlines the following freedoms that end-users should have (Free Software Foundation, 2011):
 * You have the freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose.
 * You have the freedom to modify the program to suit your needs. (To make this freedom effective in practice, you must have access to the source code, since making changes in a program without having the source code is exceedingly difficult.)
 * You have the freedom to redistribute copies, either gratis or for a fee.
 * You have the freedom to distribute modified versions of the program, so that the community can benefit from your improvements.

The [|GNU General Public License (GPL)] has proven to be just as important to the free software movement as the software itself. This license provides the legal basis for the survival of open, free software in a world of commercial exploitation and monetization. Part of the license states that any user of software covered under the GPL is free to do anything they want with the software, but they must provide the same freedoms to others that they distribute the software to. In other words, the GPL prevents corporations and for-profit enterprises from co-opting the virtual commons that the free software movement has worked hard to create.

In the following interview, Richard Stallman explains what free software means.

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Some examples of free and/or open source software include:
 * Mozilla Firefox
 * The Linux Operating System
 * The Apache Web Server (used for most websites)
 * OpenOffice (open source alternative to Microsoft Office)

How Free Software Exemplifies the Commons
According to Bowers, the commons are those skills and traditions that allow a community to exist. They are non-monetized and freely available to all members. Virtual communities require similar skills, spaces, traditions, and resources to exist. As discussed above, these commons were the norm in early communities. Over time, capitalists and businesses found ways to monetize the commons and put up artificial barriers to access, closing off the community resources to those that were unable or unwilling to pay.

Free software is what allows other virtual commons to exist. The free operating system, GNU/Linux allows computer users to access the power of computers without having to take part in the corporate software ecosystem. The operating system can be thought of as the community space in traditional commons - it is what allows for the community to form and meet. Without a free operating system, there couldn't really be any virtual commons. Free and open source web browsers serve a similar function. They allow members of the community to speak with one another, exchange ideas, and form relationships.

The software developers that create and maintain free software also show aspects of Bowers' commons in the places they meet online to share information, answer questions, and ideas. Forums, instant messaging clients and channels, and knowledge banks are all freely available to any member of the community. People use these mediums to share the knowledge necessary to allow the community to maintain itself and grow. In most cases, no money ever changes hands in these communities. Knowledge and advice are passed freely between members.

Free Software and Education
There are many advantages to introducing free software to students in the classroom. There are the obvious financial incentives, of course, but those pale in comparison to the other lessons that can be learned by using free software in the curriculum. Students today understand that communities can exist wholly in virtual environments. Using free software shows these students that there are real, viable alternatives to the commercial products they are used to seeing in everyday life. There is normally a stigma associated with free things, as compared to their monetized counterparts (bottled water vs. fountain water for example) and using free software can help show students that excellent resources and tools can be created through an open exchange of ideas.

Using free software in the classroom may also incentivize some students to become a member of the virtual commons and help ensure the ideals of free software and open source are carried on to the next generation. The commons can only be revitalized and reinvigorated when the members of the community understand why these common spaces are important.

Free Software Resources
One of the best overviews of the free software movement can be found in the documentary //[|Revolution OS]//.

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