Re: open source or free software?
On 28/08/14 08:16, Chris Bannister wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 06:05:55PM +0200, Daniel Pocock wrote:
>> "JSHint is open source and will always stay this way."[2]
>>
>> "To be honest, I'm getting tired of these not-true-open-source talks.
>> Out of all things I need to do with JSHint this issue is probably the
>> least important one."[3]
>>
>> Some people feel that the term "open source" should only be used for
>> software that is also free but I feel that is something that is beyond
>> anybody's control because "open" is such a generic word.
> "ajar" would be a better word. Just open and no more? :)
The French have "libre" - it has a distinctly different meaning than
"gratuit". They both translate to "free" in English but in French it is
less ambiguous what each word means. For example, Acrobat Reader is
gratuit but Firefox is both gratuit and libre.
The hamburger provides a useful example too. McDonald's can't stop
people using the word Cheeseburger but nobody can redefine the meaning
of Big Mac. It would be nice to have that sort of simplicity and
clarity (but without the calories) when referring to the type of
software that complies with the DFSG.
>
>> 2. http://www.jshint.com/about/
>>
>> 3. https://github.com/jshint/jshint/issues/1234#issuecomment-23185426
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