Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on January 10, 2004 03:00 AM
Free Software (Free with a capital "F" as defined by the FSF) obviously refers to something more specific than Open Source Software (Open Source with a capital "O" and "S" as defined by the Open Source Initiative).
For example, the BSD license would fall under the definition of Open Source, but not under the definition of Free.
In general, when I am discussing pragmatic issues, such as software usability and the ability to change the code, I refer to the term of Open Source to cover a wider scope of software.
When I want to discuss the philosophy of software and intellectual property rights, then I will use the term Free Software in its proper meaning.
In this case, in the grandparent post, I wasn't talking about Intellectual Usability.
Instead, I was talking about software usability in the regular sense, meaning the ability to look at the user interface and understand it, and the software's ability to do what the user wants.
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Re:Usability versus Freedom
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on January 10, 2004 03:00 AMFor example, the BSD license would fall under the definition of Open Source, but not under the definition of Free.
In general, when I am discussing pragmatic issues, such as software usability and the ability to change the code, I refer to the term of Open Source to cover a wider scope of software.
When I want to discuss the philosophy of software and intellectual property rights, then I will use the term Free Software in its proper meaning.
In this case, in the grandparent post, I wasn't talking about Intellectual Usability.
Instead, I was talking about software usability in the regular sense, meaning the ability to look at the user interface and understand it, and the software's ability to do what the user wants.
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