Z:gnu-www-ja-rieti--6d12e4-There are also, of course, leg/en

There are also, of course, legitimate roles for government funding in developing useful software, just as governments fund scientific research designed to be of use to the citizens, and even just for the sake of human curiosity, but certainly to be of use for the citizens, for the public. It is equally legitimate for governments to fund the development of software that is going be of use to the public, and then when it is done, hand it off to the public and say, &ldquo;Everyone can now use and improve this. It is human knowledge.&rdquo; Because that is what free software is really about. It is human knowledge, knowledge that belongs to humanity, to all beings. A nonfree program is restricted knowledge, knowledge that is kept under control by a few, and other people cannot really have access to it. They can only use it barely on sufferance. They can never have the knowledge.