![[Join the FSF Campaign to Eliminate DRM]](/graphics/dbd.png)
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-Translations of this page
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- ![[image of a Philosophical Gnu]](/graphics/philosophical-gnu-sm.jpg)
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We maintain this free software definition to show clearly what must @@ -262,90 +234,50 @@ and avoid various practical problems.
-
-Another group has started using the term open source
to mean
-something close (but not identical) to free software.
We prefer
-the term free software
because, once you have heard it refers to
-freedom rather than price, it
-calls to mind freedom. The word open
never does that.
+Software manuals must be free,
+for the same reasons that software must be free, and because the
+manuals are in effect part of the software.
+The same arguments also make sense for other kinds of works of +practical use — that is to say, works that embody useful knowledge, +such as educational works and reference +works. Wikipedia is the best known +example. +
-+Any kind of work can be free, and the definition of free software +has been extended to a definition of +free cultural works applicable to any kind of works. +
-
+Another group has started using the term open source
to mean
+something close (but not identical) to free software.
We
+prefer the term free software
because, once you have heard that
+it refers to freedom rather than price, it calls to mind freedom. The
+word open
+never refers to freedom.
+
-Return to the GNU Project home page. -
+ +