Chapter 14. How Much Freedom Do You Want?
Bruno Souza
âFree as in freedomâ has been used many times to express the objectives of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Although the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has created a very precise definition of what âfreeâ is with respect to software, freedom itself is one of those difficult things to define and agree on, especially since freedom always assumes some form of compromise. âYour Freedom cannot be so broad as to negate someone elseâs Freedomâ is a common saying. And when we talk about freedom in software, it is normal to have different views on what it is and how it is achieved.
The notion of free software was born in the United States, from inside the software development community. Long before the birth of free software, collaboration among developers from different companies and universities was the norm. Once software started to be seen as a company asset, barriers were built to protect these assets, and it became increasingly harder for developers to collaborate on and share code. Better ways to facilitate and guarantee the necessary collaboration were needed. Free software, and later open source software, allowed this to happen: across company boundaries, via the Internet,and between people that didnât even know each other.
Most of the software in the world today is (or was) developed in the United States, but software development itself is a borderless activity. It happens everywhere. And although many ...
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