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http://enterthepig.com

Both communities are overly defensive in which term to use to describe software that gives you the freedom to change and share it. If both communities could unite and both movements converge imagine how much more we could accomplish.

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Created by enterthepig 14 years 5 weeks ago – Made popular 14 years 5 weeks ago
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Balzac's picture

Balzac

14 years 5 weeks 2 days 17 hours ago

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Modded up for an interesting topic.

I disagree with the author, however.

Free Software is socially and historically relevant while "open source" is only a corporate-friendly marketing campaign.

Personally, I don't give a flying fig what the Open Source Initiative does or says, nor do I use the term "open source" while I'm evangelizing free software, except for when I'm explaining to someone how I'm actually not talking about "open source".

J.B.Nicholson-Owens's picture

J.B.Nicholson-Owens

14 years 5 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago

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Poster misses the point of software freedom.

Not a very well-written article, to be sure. The article calls for us to "spen[d] less time arguing over what to call FREE / OPEN SOURCE software and more time cooperating to create a stronger community and more / better software" so that we can pursue popularity: "we could have a much larger impact on the world of computer software". But without honestly acknowledging the philosophical differences between the two communities, the argument falls flat because free software activists are interested in the very thing open source proponents aren't—creation and preservation of software freedom.

I think that readers would do better to spend their time considering the essay "Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software" (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html) instead. That essay covers the history of the two movements and does a far better job explaining the divergent philosophies behind each movement. You can see this most clearly in the movements' reactions to reliable powerful proprietary software: the older free software movement rejects proprietary software on the basis that it would mean giving up valued freedoms and harming a community of equals. Proponents of the younger open source movement might wonder how the proprietor made such software without the open source development methodology but ultimately accepts the program on its terms, thus weakening the resolve to maintain the very advantages that allegedly make open source software so great.

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