Hi Shane, thank you for collecting all this.
* Shane M. Coughlan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2006-07-05 17:38:09 +0100]: > 6) What about questions about the difference between Free Software and > Open Source? > > A: "The fundamental difference between the two movements is in their > values, their ways of looking at the world. For the Open Source > movement, the issue of whether software should be open source is a > practical question, not an ethical one. As one person put it, "Open > source is a development methodology; free software is a social > movement." For the Open Source movement, non-free software is a > suboptimal solution. For the Free Software movement, non-free software > is a social problem and free software is the solution." > (From http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html) I do not believe that there are two movements; until now the arguments for that thesis did not convince me. Nor would I label "Open Source" as a development methodology. There is the distinction Free Software / non-free Software but this has nothing to do with the development model, which can be (more) open or (more) closed. > It's good to point out that "open source" is a term created to > "re-label" (in the words of Eric Raymond) free software, and the the > Open Source Initiative was set up as "a marketing program for free > software." The term 'Free Software' has been used since 1983, while > 'Open Source' only appeared in 1998. I think this is the part you should emphasise. The reasons why you should use Free Software instead of "Open Source" are listed on: http://fsfeurope.org/documents/whyfs.en.html > Open Source is a term that was coined because the term 'free' in English > is ambiguous. Do you have references for that? AFAIK the reason was that they did not want to talk about freedom as they thought managers might be afraid of the term. Although I do not understand this considering for example the terms "free market economy" or "free speech". With best wishes, Matze -- Join the Fellowship and protect your freedom! (http://www.fsfe.org) _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list [email protected] https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion
