Perhaps the author is using the scare quotes to refer to the time before the GNU GPL and other formalised Free Software licenses? I wasn't there but I'd imagine

Perhaps the author is using the scare quotes to refer to the time before the GNU GPL and other formalised Free Software licenses? I wasn't there but I'd imagine back then "free software" might've included what "freeware" meant later? EDIT: Reading the article more carefully, I was probably wrong. From their point of view, Free Software (and the civic value?) is inferior to Open Source (and mature business models) - perhaps understandable from a VC point of view?