Memorial Day weekends remind us all of those who sacrificed their lives for freedom and to protect a way of life that is based on freedom. While considering the brave men and women who stood up for what is right over the past 250 years, it made me realize a similar thing about Linux.

A lot of tech-savvy indivuals face the same dilema: their parents, who aren’t so tech-savvy, count on them to provide constant technical support for their Mom & Dad PC. This can become an incredible burden in a Windows world, where the dangers of spyware, viruses, and total system meltdown loom large.

When I started to work at Lucid, it was pretty clear to me that I was new to the open source world. So I started by talking to open source luminaries. What I learned from them is that Open Source is a broad term – and not all open source is created equal.

Oh the Cloud OS which ever so beautifully floats above the heads of corporate America as the ultimate dream of power and money.

In his note, Stallman made clear the difference between Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and open source as conceived by Eric Raymond and supporters in the business community. FOSS is not just "free as in free beer". Under FOSS software is free, not just for the user. The software itself has liberties.

Staying focused on one simple principle clears away any confusion: creative artists have a right to be paid. If we enjoy a piece of recorded music, a book, drawing, photo, movie, and the condition of owning a copy of that work is paying for it, then not paying for it is stealing. Legally it is copyright infringement, but I call it stealing, just like shoplifting or any petty theft.

Last week, I wrote about the somewhat-vague definition of the open core business model, and how it compared to the dual-license business model. Open core, like dual licenses, are all part of the whole "ways-to-make-money-faster-with-open-source-software" genre of business, but they are not the same thing.