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Info Node: (efaq)Common acronyms

(efaq)Common acronyms


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What are FSF, LPF, OSF, GNU, RMS, FTP, and GPL?
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FSF
     Free Software Foundation

LPF
     League for Programming Freedom

OSF
     Open Software Foundation

GNU
     GNU's Not Unix

RMS
     Richard Matthew Stallman

FTP
     File Transfer Protocol

GPL
     GNU General Public License

   Avoid confusing the FSF, the LPF, and the OSF.  The LPF opposes
look-and-feel copyrights and software patents.  The FSF aims to make
high quality free software available for everyone.  The OSF is a
consortium of computer vendors which develops commercial software for
Unix systems.

   The word "free" in the title of the Free Software Foundation refers
to "freedom," not "zero dollars."  Anyone can charge any price for
GPL-covered software that they want to.  However, in practice, the
freedom enforced by the GPL leads to low prices, because you can always
get the software for less money from someone else, since everyone has
the right to resell or give away GPL-covered software.


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