4 ms·

>That doesn’t mean “free as in beer,” but “free as in speech.” what the hell does that mean

by Jgoauh 9mo ago

meheleventyone 9mo ago
Something that costs you nothing versus a freedom.
brudgers 9mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_libre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_libre
afthonos 9mo ago
[flagged]
- nandomrumber 9mo ago
  [flagged]
- Jgoauh 9mo ago
  wow you caught me
nandomrumber 9mo ago
I too struggled to understand this when I first came across it.
loudmax 9mo ago
Today, we take the term "open source" for granted, but this wasn't always the case. There wasn't a single, universally accepted term to describe software that was freely shareable. "Free software" was one of the terms used, but it wasn't clear to non-programmers how this was different from proprietary software that was downloadable without having to pay for it. If you're not a programmer anyway, how should one type of "free software" be different from another? Proponents of what we now call "open source" wanted to distinguish between two senses of the word "free". One sense is not having to pay for something, as in "Come over to my party, the beer is free." Anther sense is "I can criticize the government, because the country I live in is free." People in the free software and open source movement began to phrase the dichotomy in these terms to illustrate how one sense of the word "free" is much more important than the other. The fact that you don't have to pay for some piece of software is nice, but what's more important is that you aren't beholden to the company that developed it.
- Jgoauh 9mo ago
  thanks this is very clear !
- CuriousSkeptic 9mo ago
  > Proponents of what we now call "open source" wanted to distinguish between two senses of the word "free" Some would argue its a little deeper than that https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point....
deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
patmorgan23 9mo ago
Free to use vs free to do what ever you want with

>That doesn’t mean “free as in beer,” but “free as in speech.” what the hell does that mean

by Jgoauh 9mo ago

>That doesn’t mean “free as in beer,” but “free as in speech.” what the hell does that mean

meheleventyone 9mo ago

Something that costs you nothing versus a freedom.

brudgers 9mo ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_libre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_libre

afthonos 9mo ago

[flagged]

nandomrumber 9mo ago
[flagged]
Jgoauh 9mo ago
wow you caught me

nandomrumber 9mo ago

I too struggled to understand this when I first came across it.

loudmax 9mo ago

Today, we take the term "open source" for granted, but this wasn't always the case. There wasn't a single, universally accepted term to describe software that was freely shareable. "Free software" was one of the terms used, but it wasn't clear to non-programmers how this was different from proprietary software that was downloadable without having to pay for it. If you're not a programmer anyway, how should one type of "free software" be different from another? Proponents of what we now call "open source" wanted to distinguish between two senses of the word "free". One sense is not having to pay for something, as in "Come over to my party, the beer is free." Anther sense is "I can criticize the government, because the country I live in is free." People in the free software and open source movement began to phrase the dichotomy in these terms to illustrate how one sense of the word "free" is much more important than the other. The fact that you don't have to pay for some piece of software is nice, but what's more important is that you aren't beholden to the company that developed it.

Jgoauh 9mo ago
thanks this is very clear !
CuriousSkeptic 9mo ago
> Proponents of what we now call "open source" wanted to distinguish between two senses of the word "free" Some would argue its a little deeper than that https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point....

deleted 9mo ago

[deleted]

patmorgan23 9mo ago

Free to use vs free to do what ever you want with