Situations often demand the need for certain amendments in the software widely used. This can vary from user to user according to the requirements of different business. The potential range of possibilities offered, if such amendments can be brought about freely, can be quite extensive. Here the term “freely” doesn’t refer to the monetary value of the software, but rather the liberty of wide and unrestricted usage of software. This is the libre the users are entitled to.
We have moved on to a faster world wherein a complete dependency on a vendor for a software product is not called for; using a software registered as a Free Software, a user needn’t settle for its limited enhancements.
The Free Software movement was conceived in 1983 by Richard M. Stallman to satisfy the need for and to give the benefit of "software freedom" to computer users. Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation in 1985 to provide the organizational structure to advance his Free Software ideas.
Free software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction and may be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction or with minimal restrictions to ensure that further recipients can also do these things and that manufacturers of consumer-facing hardware allow user modifications to their hardware. Free software is generally available without charge, but can have a fee.
Free Software is free not in terms of its price, but it terms of the liberty of its usage; hence the names software libre, free and open source software (FOSS) and free, libre and open source software (FLOSS) are used alternatively.
The Free software license should be given to make software, Free Software. It is done when the source code or the human-readable form of the program is made available to the recipient, with a notice granting the above permissions. The "Software Freedom Law Center" was founded in 2005 to protect and advance FLOSS. Basically, it is software for the users, by the users, and of the users!
Why Free Software?
Most people fail to understand the importance of the Open Source Movement. Often failing the common notion that software is simply something that runs on a computer, today software is very much an integral part of our lives and to some extent controls certain aspects of it. This implies that the entities that control those aspects can also indirectly affect our lives.
The Open Source Movement is actually the democratization of Software. To prevent those external entities from taking control, the only viable alternative is to give this power to the people who really need it; the users themselves. It is software for the people, of the people and by the people. This forms the core of the Open Source Movement.
Free Software gives the user the prospect to employ software without doubts on copyrights, incorporate any modifications, or even distribute their modified version for others’ benefit. Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software.
We firmly believe that Free and Open Source Software(FOSS) is the way for the future. Strictly adhering to this vision we are trying to promote FOSS in whatever way we can. We offer various services to achieve this objective.
