On Wed, 23 May 2007 22:05:54 +0100 Anthony W. Youngman wrote: [...] > If you use the word "proprietary", you are merely echoing the > terminology used/popularised by Microsoft - do you remember their > marketing slogan "Unix is proprietary, Windows is open"? > > If you use the word "proprietary" correctly, then linux is > proprietary. "proprietary" means "has an owner" (which ALL > copyrighted works do). The opposite of "proprietary" is "Public > Domain". Sorry, but I have to disagree. Whatever the its origin is[1], the term "proprietary" is now a well-established[2] word used as opposed to "free" (as in freedom). There are already enough people who are mistaken about the two *orthogonal* distinctions commercial/non-commercial and proprietary/free. Let's not add to the confusion, please! Free == grants all the important freedoms (see the FSD or the DFSG) Proprietary == non-free Commercial == is created/distributed for profit Non-commercial == is created/distributed in a not-for-profit manner [1] please note that I am *not* claiming that you're wrong about its Microsoft-ish descendancy [2] at least in the free software community -- http://frx.netsons.org/doc/nanodocs/testing_workstation_install.html Need to read a Debian testing installation walk-through? ..................................................... Francesco Poli . GnuPG key fpr == C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12 31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4
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