It has to do with the English meaning of words both generally and for software in particular. Free, as in freedom, is a much stronger word than open. This disti

It has to do with the English meaning of words both generally and for software in particular. Free, as in freedom, is a much stronger word than open. This distinction is longstanding in the business. See for example the Open Group[1]. Those of us who can remember the past are well aware that the OSI specifically tried to co-opt the free software movement for commercial gain and specifically used the weasel term open to appeal to the suits without any of that pesky user freedom. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Group https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Group