Free Software and Open SOurce [LWN.net]

Free Software and Open SOurce

Posted Nov 23, 2005 13:19 UTC (Wed) by smitty_one_each (subscriber, #28989)
In reply to: Free Software and Open SOurce by hppnq
Parent article: Richard Stallman's Tin-Foil Hat (Bruce Perens' Journal)

Chess vs. poker.
The GPL insists that all source code information remain in plain sight in the market at all times. There is an implicit community spirit.
BSD(ish) licenses support greater vendor control of the market, by allowing information to escape plain sight.
In a private email, RMS admonished me not to confuse 'freedom' with 'power'. BSD(ish) licensing, one might argue, gives a vendor inordinate power, which may or may not be used in a nefarious way in the market.

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Free Software and Open SOurce

Posted Nov 23, 2005 22:17 UTC (Wed) by hppnq (subscriber, #14462) [Link]

Chess vs. poker.

I can't really follow you, so forgive me if this seems a bit dense to you.

Comparing Free Software to Open Source software is not the same as comparing the GPL to the BSD license. Technically, Free Software is a subset of Open Source software, which shows you immediately that comparisons between the two can't be inverted thoughtlessly: all Free Software is also Open Source software, but not all Open Source software is Free Software.

The gap is wider in a non-technical sense. The Free Software definition serves to enforce the rights of users by restricting those of distributors. The Open Source definition tries to make a bit of a U-turn by focusing on distributors' rights. There's nothing wrong with that of course, and it's understandable if you take into account its history (the Debian Free Software Guidelines) -- it's just not exactly the same.

If that was what you meant, well, I agree. ;-)

(And please, let's not get into another flamewar about the interpretation of the term "rights". ;-)