"Free Software is NOT simply free to use. "Free Software" as defined by
the ... Free Software Foundation"gets a lit
Well, this is where it gets sort of complex. To folks in the open knowledge
movement, "free" has a specific meaning, as Aaron indicated. It means free to
use, modify, share. To folks in the general public, "free" likely means free
of charge, and free to use. It does not necessarily include free to modify.
Some examples are these packages, which are "free" to use, but not "free" to
modify:
Epi Info http://wwwn.cdc.gov/epiinfo/
MicOsiris http://www.microsiris.com/ (a statistical program)
TextSTAT http://neon.niederlandistik.fu-berlin.de/en/textstat/ (a word analysis
program)
Tableau public http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/ (data visualization. As
far as I can tell, this is free of charge but not open)
Thus, some general statement at the beginning of a glossary would be helpful,
to explain what "free" means. So here is a modified opening statement.
(title) What is free or open knowledge?
There are a whole lot of things on the web, like software, papers, reports,
data, artworks, etc, that are "free" to use, or "open" knowledge. But "free"
and "open" have specific meaning, often different from what the general public
understands. For example, in many definitions of "free", software has to be
free to use, AND free to modify (e.g., "open"). The source code has to be
available, and open to modification by anyone. Without those conditions, the
software is not "free", but is just "free of charge". This glossary explains
the specific meaning of "free" and "open" and related terms, and explains what
you need to know to understand appropriate use of "open" or "free" knowledge.
Gene
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