Every decision a person makes stems from the person's values and goals. People can have many different goals and values; fame, profit, love, survival, fun, and freedom, are just some of the goals that a good person might have. When the goal is to help others as well as oneself, we call that idealism. My work on free software is motivated by an idealistic goal: spreading freedom and cooperation. I want to encourage free software to spread, replacing proprietary software that forbids cooperation, and thus make our society better.
More from Richard M. Stallman
We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole society must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this has translated itself …
Permalink to quote #41 I figure that since proprietary software developers use copyright to stop us from sharing, we cooperators can use copyright to give other cooperators an advant…
Permalink to quote #43 People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware, asking for donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services. I have met people who…
Permalink to quote #40