[Gimp-docs] Is GIMP freeware?

[Sven Neumann]

Hi,

On Sun, 2007-02-04 at 20:24 +0100, Axel Wernicke wrote:

> There is at least one page in the manual that says "GIMP would not be  
> freeware, but released under GPL". But as far as I understand the  
> wikipedia definition of freeware, freeware just means that the  
> software can be used for free (without any charge) for an unlimited  
> time. I'd say GIMP _is_ freeware - is it, or isn't it?!

You are free to use it. But otherwise the license (GPL) is very strict
about what you are allowed to do. But one can indeed argue that GIMP is
both freeware and free software. But, as Wikipedia also states, we
prefer to exclusively call it free software to avoid confusion with
freeware that usually does not come with the source code and is
therefore proprietary software.

Sven