Free software and open source philosophies differ,, sometimes with radically different outcomes

[Mat Witts]

Hello Bruno :-)

> you must acknowledge that the 98% does not really know what this is
about, dont' you think?

Well, I am not sure if I mean to ignore it Bruno. It's just that there
has been some push back in other areas too which I believe are also
important issues to discuss openly. I think what I would say is that if
the 2% are not clear about the important differences between the two
things, which includes the lexemes, the ideas, the concepts, the
methodologies, the cultures and the outcomes, as two distinct packages
if you like, then the chances of influencing the 98% discussion in my
view look more remote, not as some may see it perhaps, as more likely.

The correct intervention here I think is education, and not acquiescing
to the demands of business managers that want to have all the benefits
of (say) a vibrant development community but do not feel obliged to
uphold users freedom. I say this because to me this is an exemplary case
of difference between Open Source and Free Software development.

To do that, we simply have to talk about free software, if it fits the
criteria, and open source if it fits different criteria, and NOT mix the
two things up.

It serves neither the 2% nor the 98% to talk in ways that are confusing
and incapable of supporting the fundamental differences between the two
things, in much a similar way that you would expect that if I say to you
I work in a coffee shop, you could reliably relay that information to
your friends accurately. It does no one any good if I say I work in a
coffee shop if I actually work in a factory, because transmitting
unreliable information I think generally in information science isn't
the way we get useful things done, is it?