146 lines
4.8 KiB
HTML
146 lines
4.8 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?>
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html
|
|
PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"
|
|
[<!ENTITY companies SYSTEM "whyfs-companies.xml">]>
|
|
<html lang="en">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>FSF Europe - Why we speak about Free Software</title>
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
<div> <!-- The header will be inserted here -->
|
|
<!-- Begin page content -->
|
|
|
|
<center><h2>We speak about Free Software</h2></center>
|
|
|
|
<p>Free Software is often referred to as "Open Source." This is a
|
|
result of an attempt by the <a href="http://www.opensource.org/">Open
|
|
Source Initiative</a> (OSI) to create a marketing campaign for Free
|
|
Software.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The OSI set out to maintain the integrity of the movement and
|
|
prevent abuse by proprietary vendors by introducing "Open Source" as a
|
|
trademark for Free Software; but this initiative failed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Examining the development of the Open Source Initative after three
|
|
years, it becomes apparent that the reasons to prefer the term Free
|
|
Software have become even more true. Speaking of Free Software or the
|
|
equivalent term in other languages offers many advantages, which we
|
|
explain below.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>"Free Software" is easier to understand</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Although some people say that using the term "free" creates
|
|
ambiguity, many languages have separate terms referring to freedom and
|
|
price. In these languages, the term "free" is not ambiguous. It may be
|
|
in others, including English, but in those misunderstandings can
|
|
easily be avoided by pointing out that free refers to freedom, not
|
|
price.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The terminology "Open Source" refers to having access to the source
|
|
code. But access to the source code is only a precondition for two of
|
|
the four freedoms that define Free Software. Many people do not
|
|
understand that access to the source code alone is not enough. "Free
|
|
Software" avoids catering to this relatively common misunderstanding.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Free Software is harder to abuse</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Unfortunately many companies have started calling their products
|
|
"Open Source" if at least some parts of the source code can be
|
|
seen. Users buy this software believing they are purchasing something
|
|
"as good as GNU/Linux" because it claims to follow the same
|
|
principle.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>We should not allow proprietary vendors to abuse people's enthusiasm
|
|
like this. Since the "Open Source" trademarking initiative failed,
|
|
there is no way to prevent abuse of the term that becomes possible
|
|
because of the aforementioned misunderstanding.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Free Software is well-defined</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Experience in science and philosophy has shown that a good and
|
|
clear definition is to be preferred.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The Free Software Definition of the Free Software Foundation with
|
|
its four freedoms is the clearest definition existing today.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Free Software provides additional value</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Unlike Open Source, Free Software provides more than just a
|
|
technical model how to develop better software, it provides a
|
|
philosophy. Companies can learn and profit from the philosophy and
|
|
background of Free Software.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Free Software offers freedom</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Free Software provides the freedoms to </p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>run the program, for any purpose.</li>
|
|
<li>study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs.</li>
|
|
<li>redistribute copies.</li>
|
|
<li>improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Because of these four freedoms, Free Software offers freedom to
|
|
learn, freedom to teach, freedom of competition, freedom of speech and
|
|
freedom of choice.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Freedom counts!</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>For all these reasons we made the conscious decision to avoid the term
|
|
Open Source and speak of Free Software or the equivalent term in other
|
|
languages.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>We encourage you to make the same decision.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>An initative of the<br />
|
|
Free Software Foundation Europe</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>If you also speak about Free Software and would like to know how to
|
|
participate in the campaign or how to support it, you will find
|
|
information <a href="whyfs-howto.en.html">here</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
|
|
<h2>We speak about Free Software</h2>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
|
&companies;
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<br />
|
|
|
|
<p>This campaign was started for Free Software companies, but in this
|
|
special case we decided to make an exception to the rule:<br /><ul> <a
|
|
href="http://perens.com/">Bruce Perens</a>, co-founder of the Open
|
|
Source movement and author of the "Debian Free Software
|
|
Guidelines" and the "Open Source Definition" asked us
|
|
to add his name to the list and make it known that he also speaks
|
|
about Free Software and supports the "We speak about Free
|
|
Software" campaign.</ul></p>
|
|
|
|
<!-- End page content -->
|
|
|
|
</div> <!-- The footer will be inserted here -->
|
|
|
|
Last update:
|
|
<!-- timestamp start -->
|
|
$Date$ $Author$
|
|
<!-- timestamp end -->
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|
|
<!--
|
|
Local Variables: ***
|
|
mode: xml ***
|
|
End: ***
|
|
-->
|