Free vs. Open SW (was: Richard Stallman Meets with President of India)

[Max.Hyre@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

   Dear DCers:

   In his message to the list yesterday, Seth Johnson passed
along a report of Richard Stallman's visit to India and
meeting with government officials there. In his preface,
Mr. Johnson observed:

> (One can detect an odd terminological distinction between 
> free and open that appears to be operative within this
> article, and one line seems to find Stallman's philosophy
> exhibited in the no-cost distribution of his biography, but
> this is exciting and promising news. ....)


   Mr. Johnson's reference to ``an odd terminological
distinction between free and open'' is a hair off the mark.
The distinction is deeply social (philosophical?).

   The `Open Software' movement sees free software as
pragmatic, simply an improvement in software development
methods:  if a proprietary program is better at what you
want done, use it.

   The `Free Software' movement (the elder of the two by some
fifteen years) is a social movement working for the freedom
of software's *users*---Free Software is a means to that end.
A proprietary program with more functionality should never
be accepted, but rather taken as a spur to write, or pay to
have written, a better Free alternative.  This stand is
driven by the Free Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org/),
founded by Dr. Stallman in 1984.

   For a fuller exposition, see Dr. Stallman's essay _Why
``Free Software'' is better than ``Open Source''_ at
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html.
I fear Dr. Stallman will be unhappy with the article's lumping
the two together, and with the implication that he'd ever
try to advance Open Source's cause as such.  If you believe
(as I do) that the end envisioned by the RIAA and MPAA is to
force upon the world computers which will *only* run DRM
(Digital Restrictions Managed) music, video, &c., he's
absolutely right.  Thus, the FSF takes its stand against
copyright extensions such as the Sonny Bono act and the
DMCA---the mechanisms needed to enforce such rigid laws are
precisely those which can make Free Software impossible.

   Can you tell that this is a campaign for the Greater
Good?  :-)  There are many other thoughtful essays at the
same location, http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/, on every
aspect of the need for computing freedom.


-- 

                         Best wishes,

                                  Max Hyre