Re: Free Software vs. Librous Software

Eric G Ortego <[email protected]> Tue, 14 Oct 2003 09:33:24 -0500
Newsgroups gmane.linux.usability.annoyances
Message-ID <[email protected]>

Adam Ophir Shapira wrote:

> Dexter Filmore wrote:
>
>>> For example, Richard Stallman urges people to support the
>>> Free Software philosophy *instead* of supporting the Open
>>> Source philosophy. Obviously he considers the difference
>>> between "Free Software" and "Open Source" to be
>>>
>> yaddayaddayadda.
>>
>> Does it matter?
>>
>> Somebody tell me how an open src project could not be free as in free 
>> beer?
>>
> Oh, how can something be Free as in Speech (libre) without being
> Free as in Beer (gratis)? (I had misread your sentence a few moments
> ago.) Well, it's quite simple, really. I can charge you as much
> money as you're willing to pay to sell you a CD of Linux, but since
> it is "libre", you're free to turn around and make coppies of it,
> selling it to *other* people for as much as *they* are willing to
> pay.
>
> On the other hand, if I right something with is *not* "libre"
> but which *is* "gratis", that means that you can download it for
> free or can pick a CD of it up for free at the bookstore, but
> which comes with a license that prevents you from distributing
> it to anyone else.
>
> Linux is "libre" but I wouldn't call most distributions "gratis".
> To get most major distributions, you have to either buy a copy
> in a store, or pay a lot of money for the super-speed Internet
> connection needed to download it. 

What are you still on 56k dialup?

>
>
> -- 
>
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