Free software, as defined by the Free Software Foundation, is software which can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed with little or no restriction beyond the requirement that source code must be made available.[1] Freedom from such restrictions is central to the concept, with the opposite of free software being referred to as proprietary software by the Free Software Foundation and others in the free software movement (a distinction unrelated to whether a fee is charged). The usual way for software to be distributed as free software is for the software to be licensed to the recipient with a free software license (or be in the public domain), and the source code of the software to be made available (for a compiled language).
By contrast, "Freeware" is software made available free of charge, but is generally proprietary, as users do not necessarily have the freedom to use, copy, study, modify or redistribute it. Source code for freeware may or may not be published, and permission to distribute modified versions may or may not be granted, so freeware is gratis, but not necessarily libre software.
Free software is entirely compatible with commercial software: a prohibition on selling the software would be a restriction failing the free software definition. Although the ability of the community to use and distribute the software at no cost can make it difficult to sell the software at a profit, funding models exist to give everyone the freedom to charge for distributing, modifying or any other work performed with free software.
External links
The Free Software Definition
FSF's list of free software licenses, including clarifications on often confused non-free licenses
The GNU philosophy pages, including a comparison of "Open Source" and "Free Software"
Transcripts about Free Software by Ciaran O'Riordan
Free Software and Open Source Software List
Free Software Magazine, which bills itself as "a free magazine for the free software world".
Podcast Interview with Richard Stallman, Jeremy Allison and Jeff Waugh. They cover a lot of the ideas and philosophy behind Free Software.
FSF's list of free software licenses, including clarifications on often confused non-free licenses
The GNU philosophy pages, including a comparison of "Open Source" and "Free Software"
Transcripts about Free Software by Ciaran O'Riordan
Free Software and Open Source Software List
Free Software Magazine, which bills itself as "a free magazine for the free software world".
Podcast Interview with Richard Stallman, Jeremy Allison and Jeff Waugh. They cover a lot of the ideas and philosophy behind Free Software.
