Explaining Free Software - good examples

[George McLachlan]

On 31 Jul 2006, at 14:33, Rui Miguel Silva Seabra wrote:

> Qui, 2006-07-20 às 21:53 +0200, Matthias Kirschner escreveu:
>> I am looking for a good way to explain Free Software to
>> *non-programmers* during a moderated show. It should be short  
>> (about 6
>> minutes), not to technically (I do not want to scare them off), and
>> illustrative.
>
> When people ask you "why do they need the freedom to study and modify
> since they're not programmers and so they will not benefit from that
> freedom" you can always answer them something like:
>
>
> "you don't need to be a reporter to benefit from freedom of press"


  I think it depends on the audience. As you said, it (the audience)  
is non technical, but what  sort of demographic are they?

  For instance. if they are mostly comprised of business people then  
perhaps explaining to them the benefits of avoiding vendor lock in,  
the open market for support. Perhaps use something similar to the  
"recipe" story. I like that and I think most people can relate to it.

George