用戶:夢斷代碼/自由及開放原始碼軟件歷史
維基百科,自由的 encyclopedia
自由軟件運動於1983發起,然而在此之前已經存在符合(或幾乎符合)現代自由軟件定義的早期項目,即允許所有用戶自由使用、學習、修改、再分發的軟件。早期項目出於現實原因或社會原因提供了這些自由,但它們並不屬於傳播自由軟件實踐或理念的有組織運動。
這場運動由理查德·斯托曼發起,以回應開發者僅僅發佈可執行版本的軟件而非可修改的原始碼,導致用戶自由被阻礙的趨勢。
斯托曼認為自由軟件是一種所有軟件在社會方面的當務之急,而不是一種恰好在某些情況下具有實用價值的技術選擇。在1998年,提倡自由軟件但不同意其具有社會必要性的人們開始使用開放原始碼軟件這一術語,並宣揚它具有技術上的優勢。
Sharing techniques before software
The concept of free sharing of technological information existed long before computers. For example, cooking recipes have been shared and remixed since the beginning of human culture.
In the early years of automobile development, a group of capital monopolists owned the rights to a 2-cycle gasoline engine patent originally filed by George B. Selden.[1] By controlling this patent, they were able to monopolize the industry and force car manufacturers to adhere to their demands, or risk a lawsuit. In 1911, independent automaker Henry Ford won a challenge to the Selden patent. The result was that the Selden patent became virtually worthless and a new association (which would eventually become the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association) was formed.[1] The new association instituted a cross-licensing agreement among all US auto manufacturers: although each company would develop technology and file patents, these patents were shared openly and without the exchange of money between all the manufacturers.[1] By the time the US entered World War 2, 92 Ford patents and 515 patents from other companies were being shared between these manufacturers, without any exchange of money (or lawsuits).[1][不當原創總結?]