The document discusses the history of how software was sold and distributed from the early 19th century to present day. It outlines key events like IBM beginning to charge separately for software in 1969 and Richard Stallman's launch of the GNU project in 1984 to create a free Unix-like operating system. Stallman believed software users should have four essential freedoms: to use, study, share, and modify software. This philosophy led to the creation of the GNU General Public License to ensure any versions or modifications of GNU software remained free to use. While open source software has similar goals, the document notes it allows some licenses considered too restrictive by free software advocates.