Free Software was started by all the original hackers who invented the first computers and the programs to run those computers. Ideas and information were shared freely, because that made sense. It was the best way to learn and make progress. It had been that way since the dawn of time.
Then corporate interests stepped in, creating a tremendous impedence impedance to progress, poorer technology choices, the richest man in the world, and massive monopolies of power and information, all in less than 25 years.
By the late 80's, one man started a new idea: Dr. Richard M. Stallman from MIT. RMS started the Free Software Foundation, and invented a legal mechanism using copyright to protect your freedom. This is called the General Public License (GPL). Software copyrighted under the GPL grants users the perpetual right to use, copy and modify the software, instead of placing all kinds of restrictions on the user.
