MESSAGE
DATE | 2001-12-08 |
FROM | Jon Britton
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SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] Stallman re: Information Producers Initiative
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From owner-hangout-desteny-at-mrbrklyn.com Sat Dec 8 09:55:22 2001 Received: (from mdom-at-localhost) by www2.mrbrklyn.com (8.11.2/8.11.2/SuSE Linux 8.11.1-0.5) id fB8EtFY01108 for hangout-desteny; Sat, 8 Dec 2001 09:55:15 -0500 Received: from breakwindows.com (p67-216.acedsl.com [66.114.67.216]) by www2.mrbrklyn.com (8.11.2/8.11.2/SuSE Linux 8.11.1-0.5) with ESMTP id fB8EtEY01103 for ; Sat, 8 Dec 2001 09:55:14 -0500 Received: from jon by breakwindows.com with local (Exim 3.32 #1 (Debian)) id 16Cj0I-00033b-00 for ; Sat, 08 Dec 2001 10:03:02 -0500 Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2001 10:03:02 -0500 From: Jon Britton To: hangout-at-nylxs.com Subject: Re: [hangout] Stallman re: Information Producers Initiative Message-ID: <20011208100302.B11674-at-breakwindows.com> References: <3C1061AF.E7678DB2-at-RealMeasures.dyndns.org> <20011207090429.A22739-at-www2.mrbrklyn.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20011207090429.A22739-at-www2.mrbrklyn.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.22i Sender: owner-hangout-at-mrbrklyn.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Jon Britton List: New Yorkers Linux Scene Admin: To unsubscribe send unsubscribename-at-domian.com to hangout-request-at-www2.mrbrklyn.com X-Keywords: X-UID: 19404 Status: RO Content-Length: 1627 Lines: 35
Not sure if it's entirely relevant to the discussion's political nature, but it might be worth pimping my crusade against "free software". No, I have nothing against freedom or RMS, its the term "free software" when it describes binary-only shareware/freeware available to Linux, I object.
It seems any time something is given away "free"(beer), and available for free(liberty) unix-clones, it is mistakenly labeled free software. Obviously, this is not the case, and further yet fuels the fire of the average user who still thinks "there's no money to be made in free".
Instead, "no cost" works just fine. A search for "free" on dictionary.com yields 17 definitions, with only one being remotely close to the monetary cost of an item...so it isn't exactly an ideal term to begin with. Many of us understand the use of computers as an educational tool is way more important than making a profit selling software, but if one chooses to sell something they've written, they can still give us free software and pay the rent at the same time.
I've seen the "free but not Free" comments all over the place, and maybe its just time to leave free software to what it is. Or, maybe, it would be better to come up with a new term for the FSF. Maybe the Software Liberation Front. Or the People's Liberated Software Movement...or just Liberating Software. Or even "Hey we promise not to screw you on this" Software. I'll accept any.
- Jon
-- My site used to be non-W3C-compliant. Today, its W3C-defiant! ____________________________ New Yorker Linux Users Scene Fair Use - because it's either fair use or useless....
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