The free software community understands that free software gives the user more freedom than proprietary software. Proprietary software confines its users, prohibits them from making changes that would allow everyone to benefit, etc. Free software advocates (myself included) have a habit of claiming that using free (libre) software means the same thing as having freedom.

"Freedom matters, whether it be the file formats or the software itself. It is software freedom that allows all these devices to exist and to be sold so cheaply, and software freedom that causes Linux and other Free Software to create and expand into an ecosystem that simply wouldn't exist if proprietary software were all that was available"

When explaining why Free Software is important, one question that often comes up is: “do I really need the software freedom?”

If free software is so commonplace, then why of all things should we celebrate its freedom? Isn't that as absurd as celebrating the freedom of your fridge to keep your milk fresh, or the freedom of your toaster to toast your toast?

According to a statement issued by Zyxware Technologies, a vending machine that can be used to copy and distribute free and open source software has been made possible due to the freedom associated with free software. Free software allows people to use, study, modify and share software without any restrictions.

Free software is simply software that respects our freedom -- our freedom to learn and understand the software we are using.

Free software is software you can study, modify and share without restriction. But unlike proprietary software, there is no big budget marketing campaign behind it. Rather, people discover it and come to value the freedom it provides. What are these people's motivations for working on free software? Why is community and sharing so important? Why should everyone be using free software?

Free software has an importance that extends way beyond the world of software. But for most people, it's hard to understand why software freedom is really that important. So this new report “Killed by Code: Software Transparency in Implantable Medical Devices” from the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) provides a handy opportunity to get the message across.

It is now 30 years since I launched the campaign for freedom in computing, that is, for software to be free or “libre” (we use that word to emphasize that we’re talking about freedom, not price). Some proprietary programs, such as Photoshop, are very expensive; others, such as Flash Player, are available gratis — either way, they subject their users to someone else’s power.