"Why we speak about Free Software" campaign

[Christian Selig]

"Georg C. F. Greve" wrote:
> 
>  || On Thu, 06 Sep 2001 14:46:25 +0200
>  || Christian Selig <sledge at warptec.com> wrote:
> 
>  cs> When we speak about someting, we refer _either_ to its meaning
>  cs> _or_ to the term itself. It's unclear what "speaking _about_"
>  cs> something refers to.
> 
>  cs> I don't know whether "talking of sth." is the right wording so
>  cs> that it's clear that we talk about the term "Free Software", not
>  cs> its meaning.
> 
> I have also thought about this potential problem when writing the
> text, but thought that we want people to speak (and think) *about*
> Free Software. This is furthered by using the term, I think.
> 
> Therefore I felt "about" was slightly better than "of" but people may
> disagree. Changing it gets harder every day because the companies are
> preparing their releases, so we should probably only change it if we
> feel it needs to be done or makes a major difference. What do you
> think?

I don't want to sound unfriendly, but I consider "about" as a serious
mistake. Talking "about" Free Software is what we do the whole time. We
talk about _the_ _meaning_ of Free Software. When we want to talk
explicitly why we use _the_ _term_ Free Software, then it has to be
clear in any language.

Bye,
  Christian

-- 
I am chaos.  I am the substance from which your artists and scientists 
build rhythms.  I am the spirit with which your children and clowns  
laugh in happy anarchy.  I am chaos. I am alive, and tell you that you
are free. - Eris, Goddess Of Chaos, Discord & Confusion