BadVista.org: FSF launches campaign against Microsoft Windows Vista
The Dangers of Software Patents
The Free Software Foundation
Free software is a matter of liberty not price.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF), established in 1985, is dedicated to
promoting computer users' rights to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free software, particularly the GNU
operating system, used widely in its GNU/Linux variant.
- Read more about free software in our essays section and in the philosophy section of gnu.org.
How You Can Help
You can also help by working on the development and documentation of free software programs. Please see our list of high priority projects for information on how to contribute to important projects like:
- Free software 3D video drivers
- Develop a free compatible client for Google Earth
- Gnash (GNU Flash movie player)
- Free BIOS
- Xiph.org and free Internet protocols
- Reversible debugging for GDB
You can make your voice heard on important political issues involving principles of the free software movement.
- Don't buy HD-DVD or Blu-ray disks! Hollywood's plans for Digital Restrictions Management, supported by Intel, IBM, Microsoft and SONY, are an outrageous attack on your freedom. They are also an attack on free software, since free software may never be able to read these disks. Business conspiracies to restrict technology should be illegal; until they are, you should prohibit them from your home and your life.
- Oppose the "broadcast flag"
Here are the FSF's current projects.
- GPLv3.fsf.org
- The first draft of the revised GNU General Public License has been released for comment. This project will bring together organizations, software developers, and software users from around the globe during 2006, in an effort to update the world's most popular free software license.
- GNU
- FSF remains the primary sponsor of the GNU Project. In addition to the services provided by Savannah for GNU projects, FSF provides development systems for GNU software maintainers, including full email and shell services. We are committed to furthering the development of the GNU Operating System and enabling volunteers to easily contribute to that work.
- Free Software Licensing and Compliance Lab
- The commencement of the GNU project in 1984, with its goal to give users freedom, required the establishment of new distribution terms that would prevent the project being turned into proprietary software. The method used was Copyleft and the resulting license was called the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL). Today the GNU GPL is the most widely used Free Software license, and as its author, the FSF works to help the wider community use and comprehend it.
- Free Software Directory
- The Free Software Directory was started in September 1999 to catalog all useful free software that runs under free operating systems. The Directory contains over 4,000 entries. The license of each program in the Directory is checked to verify that it is free software.
- Savannah
- Savannah provides software development services at no cost to free software developers around the world. Savannah provides a web front-end for hosting and maintaining project homepages, bug tracking, CVS, FTP, and mailing lists. We provide all of these services running entirely on Free Software, without ads, for the entire community.
If you have questions about or suggestions for the web site, or have trouble finding pages that we may have moved while redesigning the site, please email us at <webmaster@fsf.org>.
Please also visit our sister organizations:
