"As the advocates of open source draw new users into our community, we free software activists have to work even more to bring the issue of freedom to those new users' attention. We have to say, “It's free software and it gives you freedom!”—more and louder than ever."
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Created by can.axis 14 years 32 weeks ago – Made popular 14 years 32 weeks ago
Category: Philosophy Tags:
Category: Philosophy Tags:
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dehumanizer
14 years 32 weeks 5 days 2 hours ago
Luckily, freedom is not something
Luckily, freedom is not something to be defined by RMS.
boottux
14 years 31 weeks 18 hours 58 min ago
I can only hope that the lack of
I can only hope that the lack of commentary about this article on a site devoted to free software can only mean that everyone agrees with Richard Stallman.
spikeb
14 years 31 weeks 18 hours 12 min ago
true in my case
true in my case
motters
14 years 30 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago
I don't really have a problem with
I don't really have a problem with using the term "open source", and as Stallman says in the article it might be better if some more unambiguous term were used for free software, since the average computer user (or IT manager) just assumes this refers to cost rather than freedom.
IMHO the best argument which Stallman gives is that unless users realize that it's about freedom rather than cost they may well switch back to proprietary software if it's handed out gratis.
You could use terms such as "freedom promoting software" or "freedom preserving software", but I guess these are rather a mouthfull compared to the more catchy "free".