"Free software" is probably one of the worst terms they could have chosen, even if it's technically applicable. It is just far more common to think of "free" a

"Free software" is probably one of the worst terms they could have chosen, even if it's technically applicable. It is just far more common to think of "free" as "costs nothing". As a result, for decades, it seems any article on the subject must always have the same preamble reminding people what "free" really means. There may be no term that is completely accurate (if there were, you wouldn't need the words of a license, I suppose). But these days, "GPL-compatible software" might be a reasonable replacement term; at least that doesn't imply anything about the cost.