On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:22:04 -0400 James Knott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> jonathon wrote: > > On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 5:55 PM, Stephanie Zito wrote: > > > > > >> Is this openoffice free? If so is it free for an unlimited time or > >> does one > > > > Free can mean one of two things: > > * Libre: > > * Gratis; > > > > 1: Libre > > > > [FSF definition deleted for brevity] > > > Don't you think your reply to a simple question is a bit much? > What's wrong with a simple answer to her question? Well, it never hurts to educate people about free as libre and as gratis. The simple answer would of course be "that depends on whether you want to download it and you have free internet or not; or maybe you'd prefer to buy a CD on ebay or possibly you want to buy derivatives that contain commercial extras such as StarOffice" and so on. You can get OOo free as in beer *if* you have free 'net access or if someone has a CD with OOo on it. Otherwise, no, OOo is not free - it will cost you money to obtain it. There won't be licence fees, but it will still cost money. On the other hand, if your friend has OOo, then due to OOo being free as libre, you can indeed have it for free as gratis. By the way, the simple answer is not always what is best. For example, the simple and perfectly correct answer to the very simple question of "Could you tell me the time, please?" would be "Yes, I could." :-) Zoltan --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
