The GNOME project is a free software project and shares the values of the free software community. The GNOME community encourages you to learn more about free software, and the following resources are intended to provide a useful introduction:
Free Software Essays by Richard Stallman
The Cathedral And The Bazaar by Eric Steven Raymond
The GNOME Desktop Platform is licensed with the GNU LGPL license, which allows for creating non-free programs that integrate well with GNOME. The GNOME community supports those who use FreeDesktop or GNOME Platform interfaces to integrate with GNOME regardless of whether the software is Free Software or not.
The GNOME community encourages those who integrate with GNOME to consider the value of using free software licensing and to work with us to develop a positive relationship with free software amongst ourselves.