CentOS - May 2005 - Re: [OT] FOSS or Freedomware? -- WAS: pronunciation/Red Hat

From: Johnny Hughes <mailing-lists at
hughesjr.com>
> MUCH more FOSS oriented
I've been taking an informal survey on this for awhile now.
I know the new, official acronym is Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).

But even before that acronym was popular, I had long argued that
Stallman's insistence on calling it "Free Software" when that
could
be confused with "Freeware" or, worse yet, "Shareware" was a
disseervice.  I liken that problem to people who like to use the
term "Hacker" in general, even though the original term was used
to designate someone of creative or other technical skill.

"Open Source" doesn't dictate that the source code is free of IP
either.  And the whole term "open" is overused, especially when
people are thinking of "Open Systems" (at least one major Microsoft
executive had an entire interview when he confused "Open Source"
with "Open Systems") and people argue standards.

Which is why I like the term, which I have been using for a long time,
of "Freedomware."  It conveys that it isn't free of cost, while
conveying
that it is freedom from many things in the way that at least Americans
(if not many others) typically understand -- not always positive either.

I actually have a slew of license categorizations on a 2D plot against
source and standards:  
- Freedomware (open source, open standard)
- Standardware (proprietary source, open standard)
- Sourceware (open source, proprietary standard**)
- Commerceware (proprietary source, proprietary standard)

**NOTE:  E.g., IP or other requirements.

I like to differentiate between vendors who adhere to open standards
but with proprietary source.  E.g., I call the nVidia "nvidia" driver
as "Standardware" because it is a standard GLX implementation.

I also want to differentiate between "good" vendors who maintain
proprietary standards over time, because they value their customers
and their own property, and those who purposely don't even maintain
internal, proprietary standards, and purposely change file formats
regularly, and incompatibily.  The former I call "Commerceware."

The later is what I call intentional Hostageware:  
- Hostageware (unmaintainable source, unmaintainable standard)

Any software can become Hostageware.  If it is unmaintained,
eccentric, etc..., that's a risk to the data contained in/produced by the
software.  Open Source doesn't necessarily mean Open Standard,
or that the software will be a common standard.  There are a lot of
Open Source programs out there with eccentric formats.

So any software is really about mitigating risk and not some
philosophical non-sense.  And I find that sells much better to
clients than anything.  And most seem to like the term Freedomware
too.

Because freedom can be both great, and a burden at the same time.


--
Bryan J. Smith   mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org