Envie de relire ? 3 relectures qui n'attendent que vous !

[Marc Chauvet <marc.chauvet AT gmail.com>]

Bonsoir à tous,

Avis à ceux qui souhaiteraient, il y a différents documents plus ou moins longs (1/3p, 2p et 13p) en attente de relecture (traduction EN->FR) :

- Document 1/3 p
             version à relire : http://www.april.org/en/what-free-software
             version source : http://www.april.org/fr/articles/intro/ll.html
             cette relecture peut nécessiter de vérifier/modifier vos droits sur le site, mais c'est rapide et sans douleur ;)
- Document 2p : 
             version à relire : fichier html ci-joint
             version source : http://www.april.org/articles/intro/ll.html
- Document 13p :
             version à relire : fichier odt ci-joint.
             version source : http://www.april.org/files/documents/rapport-moral-2007-synthetique.pdf

Bonne soirée à tous
Marc

Free Software author: APRIL update: March 1st, 2005 (translation: March 1st, 2009) level: all level
Free Software available for all that guarantee four basic freedoms: use, study, redistribution, modification.
What is software? What is Free Software? Free Software, freeware, shareware...? A bit of history What's the point of Free Software?	What is software? In order to understand the concept of Free Software, you need first to understand what is software (also called a program or an application). From the user's point of view, software is an application which answers one of the user's needs - word processing, drawing, gaming, ...). It is a series of instructions invisible to the user, that constitute a consistent whole. Such applications require an operating system to work. The operating system allows to access the computer's ressources, such as floppy disks, the screen, the keyboard. It is also the operating system that executes the application's instructions. A program's instructions are written in a language that the computer may understand, known as the machine language (or binary language). But this is very difficult (not to say impossible) for a human being to read and understand it. Therefore, to create a program, the most common way is to write it in a computer language understandable by homan beings, and after that translate it into the binary language. This translation is done by an application called a compiler. The software in its understandable state is called the source of the software, or source of the program or also sometime "source code", and in its machine language it is called the "binary" (or executable). What is Free Software? A Free Software is a software that guarantees several freedoms to its users. Let us use an analogy by comparing a software's source code with a recipe. Imagine you are in a restaurant, eating a delicious dinner. Once back home, you might want to cook this meal the following day for your friends. But it's impossible, since you don't know the meal's recipe. You can still eat it at the restaurant, but even if you know the taste of it, you don't know how to reproduce the meal. The freedom to share recipes is essential for cooks, but also for gourmets. In the computing domaine, it is the same for software. The source code is the recipe, the binary is the already prepared meal. Most pieces of software are distributed without their recipe, and it is forbidden to try to understand how they work, to share them with your friends or to try to modify them to adapt them to your needs. As opposed to such "proprietary software", a Free Software guarantees four kinds of freedom: use: the freedom to run/use the program for any purpose. study: the freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. redistribution: the freedom to redistribute copies. modification: the freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements so that the whole community benefits from them. These freedoms are fundamental to the use of computing, to creation and the sharing of information. Before anything else, Free Software includes such ideas as freedom in sharing and freedom in the access to knowledge. Obviously, they are essential to all those working in the area of computing, but they are essential for users, since they allow the mastering of the tools and informations, by preventing any permanent dependancy to any software publisher. Free Software, freeware, shareware...? What is the difference between Free Software, freeware, shareware, software in the public domain, ... ? Let us first remind that the _expression_ Free Software uses the word "free" as in "free speech" (so with the meaning of freedom), and not as "free beer" (which would cost nothing). [Translators comment: to underline the use of one meaning or the other, a capital "F" is used when the freedom meaning is used, and none when the cost meaning is used] Therefore, Free software doesn't mean "non-commercial" not does it mean "free". A Free Software needs to be available for a commercial use, for commercial developement and for commercial distribution. Commercial development of Free Software isn't anymore an exception; today, such commercial Free Software are plenty and are most important. Free Software stands against proprietary software that doesn't grant the "four kinds of freedoms". So "commercial" and "proprietary" don't mean the same: if indeed most commercial pieces of software are proprietary, there are some that are Free; and in the same fashion, there are some non-commercial pieces of software that Free while others are not Free. A Free Software protects the users' freedom. On the other side, all the other kinds of distribution raise issues in terms of user freedom. Here are a few examples of such kinds of distribution that shouldn't be mistaken with Free Software: a "freeware", as opposed to "Free Software", is simply the statement that the piece of software is free, regardless of its licence. In some cases, such pieces of software are in the public domain. The program's source code isn't available, which forbids, amongst other things, to correct any bugs or to do any improvement to the program; a "shareware" is a program which the author asks for a voluntary payment from the regular users. The distribution or the modification of such programs is forbidden; a software in the public domain isn't subject to copyright anymore. If the source code is in the public domain, then it is indeed a Free Software, but very often the source code isn't available and only the binary code is. In that case, it's not a Free Software. Sometimes, the _expression_ "in the public domain" in an inappropriate fashion to mean "Free" ou "available for free". However, "in the public domain" is a legal _expression_ meaning that the software isn't subject to copyright. A bit of history In the first years of the computing age and up to the 80's, the computer programers found normal to share the source codes of their programs. This way of proceeding was encouraged by computer manufacturers, such as IBM for instance. Free Software existed in the facts, though not as a legal concept. At the beginning of the 80's, various elements have challenged this habit of sharing, and the concept of proprietary software started to surface, mainly through use-restricting licences. One of the most famous hackers from the MIT, Richard Stallman, considered this new approach of computing as totally contrary to the natural way of working, which could be compared to the scientific customs in terms of publishing, of sharing, of peer-reviewing. Facing this situation, and to savegard Free computing, Richard Stallman initiated in 1983 the GNU project - GNU is a recursive play on words meaning "GNU is Not Unix". This project aimed at conceiving a complete and entirely Free operating system. This system would be compatible with UNIX, but would be different. Today, this system exists and it is called GNU/Linux. To support the development of the GNU project, the Free Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org) was created in 1985. To validate this system, legal grounds were necessary. These legal grounds, built from scratch, is the GNU GPL licence (as in GNU General Public License). GNU GPL is in essence the licence for Free Software. It determines the distribution prerequisites that guarantee the user's freedom. Estimations indicate that over 70% of Free Software are protected by the GNU GPL licence. Amongst the figures of the Free environment, Richard Stallman is seen as the founder of Free Software. He imagined the Free Software movement, wrote some of the most famous pieces of Free Software and started the legal basis of Free Software. What's the point of Free Software? The main advantage of Free Software lies not in its technical benefits, but in the essence of Free Software itself: the freedom(freedom of speech, of association, of enterprise, of use of available information and of its sharing, to the benefits of all. The Free Software movement is an reference to social usefulness, and is opposed to individual appropriation of the intellectual production around software. Free Software allows citizens really taking computing in their hands. Beyond freedom, the benefits of Free Software are numerous: freedom to make copies of the software for one's own use or for one's friends; in-depth learning (for many professionals, "the best documentation that may exist is still the source code itself"); quicker solving of bugs; long-lasting use of the code through the control of it and of its evolution; adaptability of the software to specifi needs; defence of language diversity thanks to translation being made independant of the existence of a market; new state of mind in which the user wants - or at least may - learn; independance towards publishers; adaptation of the evolution of the software to the needs of the user; no commercial reasons conditionning the publishing of the software's versions... The user doesn't benefit directly from the access to the source code. Most car drivers don't know how an car engine works: it's the same thing in computing. Now, let us imagine that 10% of the population does mechanical engineering as a hobby, and spends time improving their car. If you buy a second-hand car, you may be sure the engine has been improved by the previous owner. We gain in terms of reliability, of performances and of quality. In the computing world, the same thing happens. But here, you have a new car that benefits from all the technologies developped in small independant car-shops thanks to skilled craftsmen, as the best of them are compiled together in your car. You can be confident in the quality and the safety of it. In case of an ill-conceived feature, you may be assured that somebody else will almost surely have already pinpointed the mistake and fixed it. This practical note was published both under the "Art Libre" licence and under the French Creative Commons "Paternité - Partage des Conditions Initiales à l'Identique" 2.0 licence [equivalent to the "BY-SA 2.0" Creative Commons Licence"].

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