The answer depends on your definitions of ``freedom'' and ``helping onself''.
Freedom 0 - the right to run the program as you wish for any purpose. Users of proprietary software often require permission to run software according to the purpose they use it for for example, personal home use vs. school use or commercial business use vs. government use. Without this implied permission, the user is subject to the master's goodwill and so, the user cannot live in freedom. To operate the program without the master's goodwill means that the citizen is no longer living freely but living underground.
Freedom 1 - the right to learn from, study and tinker with the program. Some reasons that require programmers to tinker with programming code include fixing software bugs; a change in user circumstances which result in a change software requirements; make some changes to the software to bring the usefulness closer to perfection.
Without programming source code, users cannot hope to get a program improved in any practical manner. Without programming source code, users depend upon the master's goodwill for help. Without programming source code, users cannot live in freedom.
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Anonymous2008-10-25 22:07
I downloaded a torrent with Photoshop CS4 and there is absolutely nothing Adobe can realistically do about it.
That's right, Adobe cannot do anything realistic to prevent you personally from using your unlicensed copy of Photoshop. It doesn't change the fact that you must keep this action hidden as long as you lack Adobe's authority to use this software as you wish. You have to live underground as long as you lack this authority; you are not living in freedom.