2015/10/01 2:24 "Doug" <dmcgarr...@optonline.net>: > > > > On 09/30/2015 07:37 AM, to...@tuxteam.de wrote: > > /snip/ > >> >> The letter of the law my dear Shylock, the letter. >> >> But in spirit, Open Source and Free Software couldn't be more different. >> The one is about a more efficient software production model, the other >> about the user's rights. >> >> But such "spirit" things are difficult to grasp at times :-) >> >> In practice, and technically, most Open Source software is Free, and all >> Free Software is Open Source. But watch those folks in a corporate >> environment awkwardly avoiding the F word -- or read Bruce Perens, one >> of those who coined Open Source writing that in hindsight it may have >> been a mistake to realize that the people behind those flavors are >> quite different. > > > This whole (OT) discussion perverts the meaning of the word "free."* > In common usage, the word "free" means you do not have to pay money for it. > > Therefore, the example given above is incorrect: all free software is NOT > open source: Firefox and Thunderbird are prime examples of free software > which is not open source that probably most users of Linux are using today. > They[re _free_ becasue you didn't have to pay for it. simple as that. > > --doug > > * The American Heritage Dictionary shows "free" first in regard to > slavery, or arrest, etc. It goes on to discuss politics and free vs. > dictatorship. It eventually gets to "costing nothing; gratuitous: > _a free pass." All of these are certainly in common usage, but the > idea of "free" applying to software that one may share seems to be > unique to some Linux users. If you were to ask the average American > what his first definition of "free" would be, I would bet that he'd > say, "You don't have to pay for it." >
When my wife talks about "o-make", the whole family, including her, knows that the freebie in question is a trade for our attention, and induces a sense of obligation to buy that she will have to remind us to ignore if we avail ouselves of the freebie. She is not a Linux user, except when she tells me to move over and let her read her e-mail. She doesn't want a computer at all, even though the Sony big tablets Docomo is selling double as TVs. She understands that free-as-in-beer is a deception. Your average person does not exist, any more than free-as-in-beer exists. It is a fact that politicians will use and abuse the common temptation to ignore the responsibilities that are part-and-parcel of freedom. That fact is not tantamount to legitamizing a false modal as a standard definition. If you don't like what I'm telling you, read this http://free-is-not-free.blogspot.jp/2015/07/shut-up-and-code-or-make-donation-and.html carefully before you reply. Joel Rees Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens. All is a stream of text flowing from the past into the future.
