"free software" and "open source" are two discourses, prioritizing different
motivations for essentially the same practice.
The software is the same (minus software under a few unpopular licenses). The
practices are not. Most users of "open source" (but the rare purists I
mentioned in my last post and are wrong in their believes, in my humble
opinion) will use proprietary software when it is technically better. They
will even recommend that software because it is technically better. The users
of "free software" reject proprietary software because it does not respect
their freedoms. Even when there is no alternative. To them, freedom is more
important than any technical convenience.
Since we agree we are talking about one movement
We do not! The practices are different (see above). More importantly, the
values are different. I believe open source proponents are partially right
when they claim that their beloved development method results in technically
better software. But that is secondary to me. I use and write free software
because it is the only way that is ethically, socially and politically
acceptable when it comes to software.
Sure, there are many people who are partially convinced by arguments from
both movements. But the two fundamentally different movements exist anyway.
I think its untrue to claim, as some continue to do on this forum and others,
that people who use the language of "open source" don't care about software
freedom, and that people who use the language of "free software" don't care
about code auditing, patch submission and other aspects of "open source
development" methodology.
Names are important. "Free software" is about freedom. It is in the name.
"Open source" is about the source code being available, the corner stone of
the development methodology. Because they are two different movements, it is
important to distinguish them with two different names. I am in favor of free
software. I am not in favor of open source (what does not mean I consider
"open source" as an enemy; proprietary software is the enemy).
See https://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html for a similar argument on
calling the operating system "GNU/Linux" and not "Linux".
