A very nice article which seeks to answer this question:
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2005/09/29/what-is-free-
software.html
"Free software is software that may be modified and redistributed
freely by anyone, with no significant restrictions on how the code
may be changed, the uses to which it may be put, or the parties with
whom it may be shared."
I particularly found interesting the paragraphs towards the end:
"Free software offers a promise that few proprietary products can
match: the promise that no one can take away from you that which you
have invested time in learning and maintaining. When a corporation
deploys a piece of software, even just internally, the corporation is
making an investment. Employees will have to be trained; various
internal processes will have to be adjusted to fit the software;
documentation will have to be updated. Over time, important parts of
the corporate infrastructure may grow to depend on the software's
presence."
Because of that investment of time I'm of the opinion that there is
no such thing as cost-free software.
Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org/downloads
Help others get OpenSource software. Distribute FLOSS
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