We don’t insist that customers of GNU, or contributors to GNU, need to reside by this rule. But we hope you’ll comply with it too, in your freedom’s sake. Proprietary software program is one other name for nonfree software.
In the past we subdivided nonfree software program into “semifree software program,” which might be modified and redistributed noncommercially, and “proprietary software,” which couldn’t be. But we’ve dropped that distinction and now use “proprietary software program” as synonymous with nonfree software program. Its use, redistribution or modification is prohibited, or requires you to ask for permission, or is restricted so much that you simply successfully can’t do it freely. The FSF doesn’t accept copyright assignments of software that’s not an official GNU bundle, as a rule. Some GNU software program was written by workers of the Free Software Foundation, however most GNU software program comes from manyvolunteers. Most GNU software is … Read More
