Re: Irony

[prj at po dot cwru dot edu (Paul Jarc)]

kaih@khms.westfalen.de (Kai Henningsen) wrote:
> Frankly, I've never been able to identify a difference between "free
> software" as used by rms and "Open Source" as used by esr. They're
> quite obviously exactly the same thing.

AIUI, there is a difference - not in the software, or in the licenses,
but in the reasons for using them (i.e., in the "movements").  RMS
promotes free software by saying that freedom itself as inherently
valuable; he gives moral reasons for using free software and free
licenses.  ESR promotes the same software by saying that its licensing
produces higher quality code; he gives economic reasons for using free
software and free licenses.  There is no (or not much) difference
beyond that, but that is still a real difference.

> (Not a surprise, really, as they were *designed* to be the same
> thing.)

They're intended to have the same code (and they do), but they're
intended to have different values (and they do).  AIUI.


paul