Z:gnu-www-ja-rms-nyu-2001-transcript--468aa3-So, that was fine, but people/en

So, that was fine, but people used to ask me, &ldquo;What do you mean it's free software if it costs $150 dollars?&rdquo; [Laughter] Well, the reason they asked this was that they were confused by the multiple meanings of the English word &ldquo;free&rdquo;. One meaning refers to price, and another meaning refers to freedom. When I speak of free software, I'm referring to freedom, not price. So think of free speech, not free beer. [Laughter] Now, I wouldn't have dedicated so many years of my life to making sure programmers got less money. That's not my goal. I'm a programmer and I don't mind getting money myself. I won't dedicate my whole life to getting it, but I don't mind getting it. And I'm not &mdash; and therefore, ethics is the same for everyone. I'm not against some other programmer getting money either. I don't want prices to be low. That's not the issue at all. The issue is freedom. Freedom for everyone who's using software, whether that person be a programmer or not.