Peter sez, "The Free Software Foundation released a new version of the GNU General Public License (GPL) earlier this year. The GPL is the copyright license used for most of the software found in a typical distribution of GNU/Linux like Ubuntu. The GPL's purpose is to stop free software from becoming proprietary software. Much has been written about the new version of the license, GPLv3, from the perspective of corporate users, but not much has been written about the benefits it provides to developers and the community. This 'Quick Guide' is an easy to read explanation of how the GPL works to defend the community's freedom against attacks from Microsoft and others."
Nobody should be restricted by the software they use. There are four freedoms that every user should have:
* the freedom to use the software for any purpose,
* the freedom to share the software with your friends and neighbors,
* the freedom to change the software to suit your needs, and
* the freedom to share the changes you make.When a program offers users all of these freedoms, we call it free software.
(Thanks, Peter!)
