| |||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||
Free Software and Open SOurceFree Software and Open SOurcePosted Nov 23, 2005 22:17 UTC (Wed) by hppnq (subscriber, #14462)In reply to: Free Software and Open SOurce by smitty_one_each Parent article: Richard Stallman's Tin-Foil Hat (Bruce Perens' Journal)
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". ;-)
(Log in to post comments)
|
|
||||||||||||