system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Okay, so does Free Software Foundation just expect us to give everything away for free? How do you make money on free software?

To start, I think what GNU and the Free Software Foundation does is amazing and important work, but, barring ideology and the likes, how do you expect to make money off of free software? Like, okay, so let's say I wrote a program. I want to sell it, but I want it to be free. How do I sell this thing that can essentially be spread legally for free?
gpt
Remember -- free as in free speech, not free as in free beer. The mission of the FSF is to promote the expansion of practices for sharing. It is about enabling the investigation and modification of software by users, and ensuring proper attribution to the writers of software.

Let's say you are using the GPL license, which is their most restrictive.
You (and others) still have the right under that copyright definition to sell the software in whatever format you want for profit. You (and others) can sell services for helping with the software. You can run software as a service on top of the copyleft software. You can request donations. You can seek grants. You can sell ads on the project site.

There are many ways to make money that are not just the selling of software.