On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 14:53, Fabrizio Giudici <
[email protected]> wrote:

>
> ************
> One of the great benefits of free software is that it allows programs
> to be combined in ways that none of the original developers would've
> anticipated, to create something new and exciting.
> ***
>
> It's untrue, as you can't combine GPLv2 together with Apache stuff.
> Freedom exists, but it's always limited in some way.
>

 At the risk of being a dick I'll point out that the original statement is
correct. Let me shout the relevant bit, you might have missed:

One of the great benefits of FREE SOFTWARE is that it allows programs
to be combined in ways that none of the original developers would've
anticipated, to create something new and exciting.

The term "free software", particularly when used by the FSF, means not just
any-old-open-source, but specifically software licensed under the GNU
licenses. That is *free software* the rest is just "open source".

And yes, understood this way it is quite true.  This also would be true:

One of the great benefits of software licensed under a license compatible
with Apache 2.0 is...

What isn't true is:

One of the great benefits of OPEN SOURCE software is ...

Due to the aforementioned incompatbility between GNU and BSD-style licenses.

// Ben

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