According to Wikipedia, Free software, as defined by the Free Software Foundation, is software which can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed without restriction. Freedom from such restrictions is central to the concept of "free software", such that the opposite of free software is proprietary software, and not software which is sold for profit, such as commercial software. Free software may sometimes be known as libre software, FLOSS, or open source software.

See Wikipedia for information on the usage and history of the term "free software", details of free software licenses, and the Social significance of free software. Wikipedia also explains the motivations behind free software and documents the controversies surrounding it.

Open source software is defined as software that has its source code published as under an open source license which allows others to study, change, and improve the design of that software. See Wikipedia for definitions and terminology, and a description of the Open source model, movement, and licenses.

External links Edit

This list is based on links from Wikipedia articles, but feel free to link additional resources here.

• Wikipedia article on free software
• The Free Software Definition - published by FSF
• FSF's list of free software licenses, including clarifications on often confused non-free licenses
• FSF/UNESCO directory of free software packages
• The GNU philosophy pages
• FSF's comparison of "Open Source" and "Free Software"
• Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS)? Look at the Numbers! — David Wheeler's analysis of the advantages of OSS/FS.
• Anarchism Triumphant: Free Software and the Death of Copyright — Eben Moglen, Professor of Law and History at Columbia University
• Brief History of the Open Source Movement
• "The" definition of open source
• The dotCommunist Manifesto — Eben Moglen
• European Commission's Open Source Observatory
• Goodbye, "free software"; hello, "open source" — Raymond's announcement of the term "open source", in 1998
• Open Source in the Open Directory Project
• Open Source Initiative (OSI) — a list of available licenses
• Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution — an online book containing essays from prominent members of the open source community
• Why "Free Software" is better than "Open Source" — a later essay from FSF
• Free / Open Source Research Community — Many online research papers
• Open Source Software List
• Business Readiness Rating - A Proposed Open Standard to Facilitate Assessment and Adoption of Open Source Software.