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This is a great reply, but it gets very deep into parsing and subjective opinion without coming to any sort of concrete conclusions (that can be applied to lice

by bronson 12y ago

This is a great reply, but it gets very deep into parsing and subjective opinion without coming to any sort of concrete conclusions (that can be applied to licensing anyway). Personally, I'm happy for others to use most of my code without contributing back. Does that therefore mean that you and I have different definitions of the word "freedom"? If so, then why isn't that in the dictionary? Do we need separate dictionaries?

belorn 12y ago
If you want to give people freedom to modify and distribute your code, then that is a freedom as per the same dictionary that I use. I have no problem with its definition. Freedom to, and freedom from, both include the word freedom. They share philosophical ideas, most which originate from the ancient Rome. The question we are having is how to solve the paradoxes which said philosophy created. I thus personally prefer to use the word liberty rather than freedom. Liberty is commonly understood to have a philosophical connotation, while freedom is more associated as mechanical concept. A slave can reach freedom by running away, but to gain liberty, they got to be given rights. (Not to imply that BSD isn't granting some liberties. It is. The above is about the word freedom.)