Re: [seul-edu] free software / open source

[Odile Bénassy <obenassy@free.fr>]

Paolo Pumilia a écrit :
> 
> 
> Originally, there was no difference between the expressions
> 'free software" and "open source". The latter had been
> invented to get rid of the ambiguity in the term 'free'
> and to make acceptance of open software by non-technician
> people easier.
> In short, 'open source' sounded better to many people.

yes, sounds better to English-speaking people, because of this
ambiguity of the word "free"
In French(libre/gratuit), in Italian(libero/gratuito), in
German(frei/kostenlos), etc..., both meanings are covered by two
different words.

So we do not need to say "open source" for free software.

Moreover, free software actually *has* to do with freedom.

And be very careful : "open source" happens to be used by bigger
software companies to cover their some of their bad commercial practice
like using nice people from the developers "community"  to debug their
commercial software for free... and still taking all licence advantage
to themselves leaving nothing at all to the nice helping "community" guy
!

This is one reason why you would better say "free software"
(of course these bad practice cannot be done with "free software")
cf
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html#newinnovember

> Recently somebody claimed there are differences in princple
> between the two expressions: 'free software" would stand as
> defence of freedom of programmers and users, 'open source'
> would merely point out technical/economical advanges of 'free'
> programs.
> 
> Why should one believe that statement as a matter of fact?

cf above

> 
> Ideas and principles are no private property of anyone;
> i am distrustful when the use of ideas gets restricted by
> self-appointed owners; wider acceptance of ideas should be
> supported and aknowledged as a sign of their strenght, even
> if that produces a slight blurred zone on the borders.
> 
> 'open source' is perhaps less well defined than 'free software',
> since it is real movement. Indeed a drawback of an
> _idea in evolution_ is that everybody is tempted to stress those
> implications he/she is most interested to; to get the full meaning
> of 'open source' one has to catch the reasons of the many
> prominent actors at that given moment of history.
> As witnessed by many ongoing projects on the web, the
> expression 'open source' is used in several new educational,
> economical and technical enterprises related to computer science;
> moreover it is spreading over unlike cultural contexts;
> music, literacture and phylosophy are some examples.
> To me, it is obvious that the meaning of 'open source' cannot be
> entirely recovered in the OSI (open source initiative) statements;
> that is the board in charge to pass new open source licenses.
> Open source is rather what lays behind that initiative.
> 
> Insisting on the artificial difference in the meaning of
> 'free software' and 'open source' makes me think the real
> difference in elsewhere.
> 
> --
> Paolo Pumilia

-- 
Odile Bénassy                                 http://obenassy.free.fr/
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