FSF Free Software != OSI Open Source, though close

FSF Free Software != OSI Open Source, though close

Posted Apr 17, 2006 1:09 UTC (Mon) by kmself (subscriber, #11565)
In reply to: that's OpenSource by rvfh
Parent article: A first look at Zfone (NewsForge)

The terms are not identical, though they are close.

FSF speaks of specific freedoms, in a given software work, which the OSI Open Source Definition applies to licensing terms and is specifically granted (or denied) to a particular license by the OSI board.

While the effective meanings are very close, there are licenses the OSI board has recognized as OSD compliant which the FSF does not recognize, and there are licenses which have not yet been reviewed by the OSI board which pass the FSF four freedoms test. To this extent, the terms differ by their application.

That's the pragmatic difference. On the moral side of the debate, the FSF is fundamentally about software freedoms, while the Open Source Definition and OSI were formed in large part to make the applied concepts of free software more paletable to business. I've come to feel that RMS is largely correct in stating that without the freedoms and moral aspects, Open Source is a rather empty concept.

That said, I'll use both terms (with a strong preference to Free Software) in discussions, as suits the audience.

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