Software which is available for no cost, but not available on terms which allow the user to receive, modify, and/or distribute source code. Also known as FreeAsInBeer/GratisSoftware. As opposed to FreeAsInSpeech/FreeAsInLibre?/LibreSoftware
Examples of FreeAsInGratis software:
Is there an example of software that is
FreeAsInSpeech but not
FreeAsInBeer?
- SCO thinks LinuxOs is :)
- Many FreeAsInSpeech programs are available at no charge, but support costs extra (or require special hardware to be useful--i.e. a device driver)
- So you're paying for support, not software.
- I paid $69.95 or thereabouts for a copy of SuSE Linux Professional; despite the fact that I could download the thing over the net--supporting the community and having the disks was worth it to me.
- You didn't pay for the software, you paid for the manual, the disks, technical support, and the WarmFuzzyFeeling of "supporting the community". (He gave them money, he got software in return. By any reasonable definition he paid for the software. It just came with more allowed uses than other software.)
- Correct, though I could have legally (were I to choose to do so) borrowed a copy of the SuSE disks from a friend, burned my own, and installed that. Wouldn't have come with the other things (manuals, support, and WarmFuzzyFeeling).
In general, one cannot impose scarcity on
FreeAsInSpeech software (via copyright, licensure, or other means) in order to charge excessive "rents" (prices), as the terms of such licenses invariably permit the recipient of the program to redistribute it, possibly free of charge. This ensures that the marginal price of the software remains equal to the marginal cost -- which for software is zero (or near zero, depending on how the software is distributed). In other words, you can't get rich selling licenses to free software; you have to provide something else of value to justify a price much higher than the marginal cost.
EditHint: All these "free" pages really ought to be ReFactored.
Free As In Gratis