Editing Free software movement (section)

== Philosophy ==
The philosophy of the Free Software Movement is based on promoting collaboration between programmers and computer users. This process necessitates the rejection of
[[proprietary software]] and the promotion of [[free software]].<ref name="20 Years"/> Stallman notes that this action would not hinder the progression of technology, as he states, "Wasteful duplication of system programming effort will be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the state of the art."<ref name="The GNU Manifesto">{{cite web
|title=The GNU Manifesto
|publisher=GNU
|url=https://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html
|access-date=2014-04-18
|archive-date=2020-05-11
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511025028/http://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

Members of the Free Software Movement believe that all software users should have the freedoms listed in [[The Free Software Definition]]. Members hold the belief that it is immoral to prohibit or prevent people from exercising these freedoms, and that they are required in creating a community where software users can help each other and have control over their technology.<ref>{{cite web
|title=Why free software?
|url=https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-free.html
|publisher=GNU
|access-date=2014-04-18
|archive-date=2021-05-04
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504231916/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-free.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Regarding [[proprietary software]], some believe that it is not strictly immoral, citing increased profitability in the business models available for proprietary software, along with technical features and convenience.<ref>{{cite web
|title=Copyleft: Pragmatic Idealism
|publisher=GNU
|url=http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/pragmatic.html
|access-date=2007-04-09
|archive-date=2012-09-19
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919112405/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/pragmatic.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

The Free Software Foundation espouses the principle that all software needs free documentation, as programmers should have the ability to update manuals to reflect modifications made to the software.<ref>{{cite web
|title=Free Software and Free Manuals
|url=https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-doc.html
|publisher=GNU
|access-date=2014-04-18
|archive-date=2021-08-15
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815064923/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-doc.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Within the movement, the [[FLOSS Manuals]] foundation specializes in providing such documentation.