"Just returning from the iCommons Summit in Sapporo, Japan. The Free Beer project made a showing, with a locally brewed version. But this ad caught my eye: "Free Beer" for "500 yen."

I have been pondering the meaning of “free” in association with Free Open Source Software (FOSS) in general and GNU/Linux in particular. If one asks a FOSS advocate what free means in regard to these one might hear the reply, “Free as in beer!” and/or “Free as in freedom!”.

It seems the author didn't understand the philosophy of free software. Free software is about freedom. Think free speech, not free beer. Feel free to explain it in comments... -- via http://linuxaucoin.blogspot.com/2008/04/free-software-festival-this-satu...

I've talked so far about software freedom as in speech and as in beer. Today my topic is the kind of "free" that people view as a burden, the example being "free kittens." This is the meaning of "free" that keeps many regular, reasonable computer users from adopting (or perhaps even trying) free software solutions for everyday needs.

What does it mean to be open. My copy of Oxford defines open as: unconcealed circumstances or condition. Way back in the day when the GNU operating system was getting going, they coined the mantra: Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer.

Richard Stallman once wrote that the point about free software is it is "free as in freedom, not free as in beer", meaning that people should be at liberty to do as they pleased with software, rather than subscribe to its restrictive licences.

"So if anyone knows me personally, they know I am a huge Blender head and proponent of free software, meaning free as in freedom of speech not free beer. I am especially fond of any software released under the terms of the GNU General Public License from the Free Software Foundation.

Linux is Free Software. Generally the average person tends to think of “Linux” as simply one operating system, but it’s rather a family of systems. Think of Linux and the various distributions as branches on the same tree-trunk.

People use this as one of the biggest drawing cards for advocating Linux. It is free they say, free as in beer, free as in cost, free free free. But what exactly do they mean by free?