FAQ for giving lectures about Free Software

[Matthias Kirschner]

* Matthias Kirschner <mk at fsfe.org> [2006-07-05 21:52:23 +0200]:

> > It's good to point out that "open source" is a term created to
> > "re-label" (in the words of Eric Raymond) free software, and the the
> > Open Source Initiative was set up as "a marketing program for free
> > software." The term 'Free Software' has been used since 1983, while
> > 'Open Source' only appeared in 1998.
> 
> I think this is the part you should emphasise.  The reasons why you
> should use Free Software instead of "Open Source" are listed on:
> 
>     http://fsfeurope.org/documents/whyfs.en.html

I forgot to include this:

    Synonyms 
    
    As of 1992, the term ''Libre Software'' was promoted as a synoym to
    Free Software in parts of Europe to address the particular confusion
    of the English language. The term ''Open Source'' was proposed in
    1998 as a marketing term for Free Software by the Open Source
    Initiative (OSI).  The OSI definition of ''Open Source'' covers an
    identical body of copyright licenses to that of the 1989 Free
    Software Definition explained above.  From the copyright licensing
    viewpoint, both ''Libre Software'' and ''Open Source'' are Free
    Software synonyms.  Combination of terms, such as ''FOSS'' and
    ''FLOSS'' combine synonyms, redundantly identifying the same body of
    software. (http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/wipo/fser.en.html)

With best wishes,
Matze

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