The Silent Number

Posted: 2009-06-09

At this point, the only reason i still use the term "Free Software" is to align myself with the Free Software movement as opposed to the Open Source movement, but to end this stupid naming controversy and make both movements stronger, not only do we have to, but we should for our own benefit use the term "open source" instead. I did a little rant about this a while ago on YouTube. The argument is really very simple.
The term Free Software is good because it emphasizes freedom, or at least it's supposed to. The problem is obviously that people confuse it with freeware (free as in beer, not as in freedom). Open Source is bad because their movement only focuses on practical advantages, and ignores freedom. The distinction between the disadvantages of both terms, is that one is inherent in the term, whereas the other is only a reflection of the group of people that choose to use it. In other words, Free Software will always be confused with freeware because the English language doesn't distinguish free as in price and free as in freedom, and Open Source just ignores freedom because of the movement currently aligned with the term. This means that the Free Software movement could use the term open source, but make sure to always emphasize freedom, so there wouldn't be the harmful confusion around the word "free", nor the lack of emphasis on freedom by using the term "Open Source".
Now, there is Libre software, which distinguishes free as in freedom from gratis, free as in price, but it still hasn't caught on and it keeps the Open Source and Free Software movement arguing about terminology instead of working together to promote their ideals. I'm glad to see the Free Software Foundation Europe has recognized this, but now who will convince Richard Stallman?