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<title>Beware of Contradictory “Support” |
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- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> |
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<h2>Beware of Contradictory “Support”</h2> |
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|
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<address class="byline">by Richard Stallman</address> |
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<p>There are organizations that proclaim support for free software or |
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the GNU Project, and teach classes in use of nonfree software.</p> |
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<p>It's possible that they do some <em>other</em> things that really |
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support free software, but those classes certainly don't. On the |
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contrary, they work directly against the free software movement by |
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promoting the use of the nonfree software. That increases the |
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magnitude of the practical problem it is our mission to correct.</p> |
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|
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<p>Even worse, that grants nonfree software legitimacy. The basic |
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point of the free software movement is that nonfree software is <a |
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href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">unjust</a> |
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and should not exist. That's why we need a movement to <em>replace |
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and eliminate</em> it. Teaching how to use it asserts that it isn't |
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a problem; that opposes the free software movement at the deepest |
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level.</p> |
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<p>Of course, people have the right to state that view, but they |
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shouldn't pretend that it constitutes support for our cause.</p> |
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<p>Even more outrageously, some of those organizations claim that |
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their courses in using nonfree software are connected with or even |
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certified by the GNU Project or the Free Software Foundation. |
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Needless to say, we would never certify such a course, nor recommend |
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it, nor have anything to do with it, nor even talk about it except |
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with condemnation.</p> |
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|
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<p>Teaching use of nonfree programs works against free software; |
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teaching it in association with the name GNU or the term “free |
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software” causes confusion about what we stand for.</p> |
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<p>If you encounter such an organization, please explain these points |
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to the people who work on it: that such courses go directly against |
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the principles of the free software movement. Explain to them why, if |
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they want to help the free software cause, they need to teach people to |
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choose free software, not legitimize nonfree software.</p> |
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<p>If they ask you to participate in those courses, as a student or |
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teacher, that gives you an opportunity |
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to <a href="/philosophy/saying-no-even-once.html"> say no</a> for a |
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change.</p> |
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<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to |
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<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. |
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There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> |
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the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent |
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to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> |
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<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to |
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<p>Copyright © 2016, 2020, 2021 Richard Stallman</p> |
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<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" |
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href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative |
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Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> |
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<p class="unprintable">Updated: |
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$Date: 2021/09/02 08:42:02 $ |
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