Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on March 18, 2003 04:30 AM
It's sad to see that Richard Stallman won't participate in furthering the cause he has devoted his life to simply because of a linguistic quibble.
Yes, I realize that free and open source software are not the same thing. However, most people outside of the two communities don't know that. To outsiders, the terms are synonymous.
I can understand why Stallman feels that this mistaken assumption slights free software. However, I doubt that the insult is intentional. I also doubt that those who make the assumption understand why their choice of language offends.
All Stallman is really doing by taking this position is making it less likely that the free software position will be heard. He's not standing on principle - he's quibbling over a choice of words.
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Quibbling over language
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on March 18, 2003 04:30 AMYes, I realize that free and open source software are not the same thing. However, most people outside of the two communities don't know that. To outsiders, the terms are synonymous.
I can understand why Stallman feels that this mistaken assumption slights free software. However, I doubt that the insult is intentional. I also doubt that those who make the assumption understand why their choice of language offends.
All Stallman is really doing by taking this position is making it less likely that the free software position will be heard. He's not standing on principle - he's quibbling over a choice of words.
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