Why we speak about Free Software

[Simo Sorce]

The real problem is:

Too many People yet think Free Software == gratis/freeware!

Form this error it comes: StarOffice == gratis/freeware == FS

If you change the formula to be Free Software != gratis/freeware!
then also StarOffice == gratis/freeware != FS works

Unfortunately we tend to assume others understood that concept simply
because THEY now use the these terms and WE know what they means, but
the fact that others use the term Free Software  (or Open Source) does
not mean at all they understand what it means fully!

There's lot to do yet!
Simo.

On Wed, 2002-04-24 at 18:27, Jan-Oliver Wagner wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 24, 2002 at 03:46:29PM +0000, MJ Ray wrote:
> > Jan-Oliver Wagner <jan at intevation.de> wrote:
> > > My personal opinion is that if the web pages did not
> > > change, also the corporate culture did not adopt the term
> > > Free Software nor understand the problem of the other term.
> > 
> > On a saddening point, an open source promoter with EC involvement was at a
> > meeting I was at recently, yet he promoted StarOffice as an "open source"
> > alternative.  I'm rather confused by this.  I am right in thinking that it
> > is restrictively licensed, am I not?  It looks it to me, but am I going mad?
> 
> no, you are not going mad :-)
> StarOffice is _no_ Free Software.
> 
> Yesterday I had a talk on Free Software and GIS at University of
> Münster and exactly the same statement came up from the audience.
> It is really interesting how it evolved that so many people
> think of StarOffice as Free Software.
> 
> 	Jan
> 
> -- 
> Jan-Oliver Wagner               http://intevation.de/~jan/
> 
> Intevation GmbH	              	     http://intevation.de/
> FreeGIS	                               http://freegis.org/
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-- 
Simo Sorce - simo.sorce at xsec.it
Xsec s.r.l.
via Durando 10 Ed. G - 20158 - Milano
tel. +39 02 2399 7130 - fax: +39 02 700 442 399
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