The Four Freedoms granted by Free Software
I don’t know whether you know (or even care) but Free Software (”free as in ‘free speech’, not as in ‘free beer’”) grants four freedoms to you, which proprietary software not necessarily does:
- Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program for any purpose.
- Freedom 1: The freedom to study and modify the program.
- Freedom 2: The freedom to copy the program so you can help your neighbor.
- Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.