There is the d20 System Reference Document, which compiles all (IIRC) of the OGL material from D&D 3.0/3.5 (in some cases, updated from 3.0 to 3.5). Because of intellectual property restrictions, a good portion of 3.0 and 3.5 material (most setting-specific information, as well as many of the splat-books and some "unique" D&D monsters like beholders and mind flayers) is off-limits for reproduction without approval from Wizards of the Coast.
Anything from before 3.0 is not covered by the OGL and cannot be legally reproduced (except in an extremely limited fashion under fair use*) and distributed.
*- IIRC, if you own a legally published copy, you are allowed one complete copy as a backup (for personal use only; you can't give it to anyone else) and can make a small number of copies of specific pages (for hand-outs used in play), but all copies have to be destroyed/returned once used or if you sell or give the published copy to someone else.
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Wow.... Wizards of the coast aren't very good at making people interested in D&D. At all. That sucks. Thanks mate, but they really screwed themselves out of more players by not doing what paizo does.
The only reason I got into pathfinder was the PRD, I liked looking at it and reading the classes and the spells.
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If WotC hadn't created the SRD and the OGL in the first place, Pathfinder (and literally hundreds of other games) wouldn't exist.
The current edition of D&D does have a free version of their rules online, it's just not called a system reference document. You can download their Basic Rules HERE.
As mentioned above 3.0/3.5 are basically covered by the d20SRD.
While you can't legally see the exact text of the prior editions, there are many retro-clones of those editions that are essentially the same rules. And most of them have free PDF editions. A quick run-down of the ones I consider the most faithful:
Original D&D: Swords & Wizardry (d20SWSRD, Complete Rules, Core Rules, White Box)
Holmes Basic D&D: BLUEHOLME Prentice Rules (Lulu POD, I can't seem to find the PDF anymore)
AD&D 1st Edition: OSRIC
B/X D&D: Labyrinth Lord
BECMI / Rules Cyclopedia: Dark Dungeons
AD&D 2nd Edition: For Gold & Glory
And I have seen at least one website that basically mirrors the information from the AD&D 2nd Edition Core Rules CD-ROM. I doubt that one is strictly legal, however.
If you want to see the actual products produced by TSR, a LOT of them are available at http://www.dndclassics.com/.
Wow.... Wizards of the coast aren't very good at making people interested in D&D. At all. That sucks. Thanks mate, but they really screwed themselves out of more players by not doing what paizo does.
They really screwed themselves out of more players for a product they don't sell any more?
To be fair to Wizards of the Coast, before they moved away from the OGL (and Paizo developed the Pathfinder RPG) they had no real need. With the OGL, most popular RPGs published during the 3.0/3.5 period were d20 based; the exceptions being already established systems (like GURPS, Palladium, and White Wolf) that had a ton of existing material that would have cost more to convert/republish than they were likely to make. D&D was the 800 lb gorilla among table top RPG games, with name-brand recognition and over 20 years of popularity.
In addition, the publication/marketing strategies between Paizo and Wizards of the Coast are different: Paizo makes most of their money off of adventures and associated products (at least, that's what I've gathered from comments made by Lisa Stevens and others), with the system rules as secondary (so the adventures have associated mechanics); Wizards of the Coast, on the other hand, makes most of their RPG income (which is actually only a small part of the company's revenue stream) off of rule books, with only limited adventure and setting support.
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These are all helpful links, I will be sure to go to the library and place them on my flashdrive.
Because my computer is old and crappy.
Also, I didn't exactly know so the rudeness was not exactly helpful.
I was merely trying to figure out why the heck they didn't throw it on a site and let people look at things and then make up there mind
WotC put out various free online things
For 3.0 the srds covered rules material from:
The Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, Monster Manual, Psionics Handbook, Epic Level Handbook, and Deities and Demigods.
For 3.5 it was:
Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manul, Unearthed Arcana, and Expanded Psionics Handbook.
For d20 Modern it included:
D20 Modern, Urban Arcana, Menace Manual, and d20 Future
For 4e they eventually put out a quickstart rules guide and a PDF of their first module H1 Keep on the Shadowfell for free. Now they also have their 4e Free RPG day Eberron module Khyber's Harvest. 4e also had a pay subscription service to online tools with the rules elements of their whole 4e line, every class option and monster listed from every book, module, and magazine article. It started off a constantly updated download service then switched to online access to the databases only during subscription.
5e has a PDF of the basic rules.