The importance of free software to science [LWN subscriber-only content]Welcome to LWN.net The following subscription-only content has been made available to you by an LWN subscriber. Free software brings practical and specific advantages, beyond just its ideological roots, to science, while proprietary software comes with equally specific risks. Software rotIdeally scientists would only use free software, and would certainly avoid "black box" commercial software for the various reasons mentioned in this article. Such proprietary but source-available software occupies an intermediate position between free software and the black boxes that should be strictly avoided. Software recommendationsThe following specific recommendations are for free software that's potentially of use to any scientist or engineer.