On 2 Nov 2003 at 12:12, David Golden wrote:
I did NOT intend to leave wiggle room to introduce nonfree stuff or anti-gpl wackiness. I will be charitable and assume by "solving his problems" Niall meant that it removed ambiguity he perceived to be introduced by common usage of "Free" and "open", not that it left such wiggle room...
You are correct, I don't like people deliberately phrasing things in a deceptive fashion. As you know David, I hold there is morality in everything and especially engineering, being such a force for good that it is, should naturally attain for a high standard of morals. It's not the free software movement's fault, but "free" in English means "free of cost" first and "free of restriction" second - and *that* in my opinion means that "free software" is a misleading name.
IMHO the best English translation is still "Irish Free Software Organisation", and if "Free" is perceived ambiguous by some party, that's not so bad anyway, since it means one can explain the FSF philosophy when they ask for clarification...
If we were all in Spain right now, I'd be 100% happy with "Organisation Software Libre Irlandes" because that says what it really is.
I know that what I'm saying is being pedantic, but you must all remember that we live within a clique where the term "free software" has a meaning not equivalent to that perceived by the wider public - ie; most computer users and managers of business. Therefore to choose this term to name a lobby organisation acting in such arenas is to practice the same form of dishonesty as I have outlined above.
Now OTOH, if it's a stated goal that this organisation shall as a primary purpose be lobbying business to move to free software, you do want to keep that name as a PR mechanism. I however will then have nothing to do with it personally, though I'll continue barracking from the sidelines :)
Cheers, Niall