On Mon, 2003-09-15 at 09:50, Michael Ryan Byrd wrote: > When people say, "free as in beer" do they mean: > > 1-"you have the freedom to get it, but it will cost you $12.99 for an 18 > pack--like at 7-11" > > 2-it actually costs nothing, (like at a University of Utah kegger?) > > Why do people say that anyway? Is it common to give beer away? That sounds like > a bad business model to me.
I believe that Richard Stallman invented the expression. He wanted to highlight the difference between Free (libre) Software and free software. Of course giving away beer is a lousy business model, but Stallman doesn't care about business. He cares about human liberty--and trusts that freedom is the only way to have a strong economy (but he doesn't talk about economics much, it's probably less than secondary). To my mind there's something vaguely disrespectful about the expression "free beer" when juxtaposed with Freedom. I think he wanted to have that effect, giving your work away for the sake of giving it away is pointless. Giving it away to create a culture of cooperation, or to ensure high quality and interoperability, is selfish and noble at the same time. Stallman has a strong anti-pathy to the Open Source movement. He sees it as something of a perversion, motivated only by economic concerns. It blinds too many to the greater issues, they get comfortable and never see past the economic issues. He points out that while their methods are similiar, their goals are very different. Stallman is flaming liberal, but he is not a communist or socialist. At times he seems to be a libertarian. Ultimately, the only way to categorize him is to recognize that he strives to always be moral. He's and atheist and very moral. That's not an easy thing for us to understand in our culture here. I'll let everyone come to their own conclusions about him and his philosophy, but if you've never taken the time to read what he has written, you're robbing yourself. > To be less confusing, if they really mean that there is NO COST, maybe they > should say, "Free as in air." I would have said, "free as in water," but there > are growing numbers of morons who buy bottled water (evian/naive.) No, because that implies little or no work. Software is never free to produce, there is always a cost. Sometimes giving it away, though, is the best way to get a return. You can give away air without it costing you a thing, you can't give away beer without some kind of loss. -- Stuart Jansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED], AIM:StuartMJansen> Interviewer: What do you think anything[sic] is still missing from the [Linux] kernel? Andrew Morton: Groupies!
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