Augustin on Free Software vs. Open Source

From a thread on the Free Software Business mailing list, VA Software CEO Larry Augustin shares his understanding of the relationship between Free Software and Open Source, in the following brief post. (VA Software is the corporate parent of NewsForge.)”I have not been able to discern any difference between Open Source and
Free Software with regards to the end result: source code being “free”
in the sense that the FSF defines “free”. Both communities seem to have
the same goal.

“However, the Open Source community seems to believe two things which RMS
and the Free Software community do not seem to believe:

1. The word “free” is detrimental to achieving the goal because
most people seeing it applied in the context of software think “zero
cost”, not “freedom.” By using a different term, it may be easier to
achieve the end goal.

2. There may be reasons for supporting Free Software other than
a moral belief that all software should be free. The Open Source
community is willing to be flexible in the rationale behind Free
Software and is accepting of pro Free Software arguments based on
economic or other rationale. RMS and the Free Software community do not
seem to allow for these other arguments. Again, by allowing for a
different rationale, it may be easier to achieve the end goal.

“I believe that RMS and the FSF have slowed the acceptance of Free
Software by their unwillingness to compromise on these two points. I
believe that adopting the terminology and arguments presented by the OSI
would accelerate the acceptance of Free Software.”

Larry