On Mar 5, 2007, at 13:49, Ned Horning wrote:
On Mar 5, 2007, at 13:26, Frank Warmerdam wrote:
The lack of understanding of what we mean by free just
demonstrates the
need for additional outreach by OSGeo.
I am still trying to get my head around the "free and open source"
concept.
I've been through the Free Software Foundation site and although I
think the
free software movement is great I still don't see why it can't be
thought of
as a subset of open source.
The Free Software "movement" predates the organized Open Source
movement. There's definitely overlap but I'm not sure one can be
thought of as a subset of the other.
There are Open Source licenses that do not require all of freedoms of
Free Software, particularly the requirement to deliver source code if
you also deliver modifications. That effectively lets people close
off improvements they have made to formerly open software.
I used to think the Free Software people were a bit too radical but
I've come around to fully respecting their position. That's not to
say that I release software under the GPL or its variants.
From my perspective, being more of an open source consumer than a
producer,
it seems silly to use "free and open source". It creates a good
deal of
unnecessary confusion to those outside of the free/open source
community. It
seems that the "free" movement focuses on the philosophical
differences
which is fine but can't folks with different philosophies co-exist
under the
"open source" umbrella? Aren't all of the licenses that are
endorsed by the
FSF also endorsed by the "open source" community?
The FSF "can't" exist under the Open Source umbrella because they
feel some Open Source does not guarantee Freedom over time. The Open
Source people can't exist under the Free umbrella because they feel
the GPL and its variants are too restrictive.
Thus, since OSGeo has both Free and Open Source projects (or
eventually could), we use the term FOSS to embrace both. This is not
just a Geo thing. Europeans tend to use FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source
Software)
As far as OSGeo outreach goes, should we use "free and open source"
or just
"open source" and explain what "free" means within a definition of
open
source?
We should use Free and Open Source (FOSS or FLOSS) and have an
explanation somewhere. Now there's a job for Arnulf!
So far it seems to be inconstantly used within OSGeo. Would it make
sense to think of the "free 4 geo" community as the radical arm of
OSGeo :)
No. It's not radical. It's different.
PS. What is the "correct" term for software that doesn't cost
anything but
is closed (like MultiSpec and 3DEM)? Freeware?
Yes, Freeware.
--
Allan Doyle
+1.781.433.2695
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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