Eric S. Raymond on GPL and BSD licenses. & Microsoft coming to Linux

[Mike Parker]

Alix Pexton wrote:
> Walter Bright wrote:
>> Nick Sabalausky wrote:
>>> "Walter Bright" <newshound1 at digitalmars.com> wrote in message 
>>> news:gqj7kh$ll$1 at digitalmars.com...
>>>> Nick Sabalausky wrote:
>>>>> (The whole idea of "free as in freedom software" not also implying 
>>>>> "free as in beer" (Side note: since when is beer free?) is complete 
>>>>> bullocks.) (And yes, I just used the word "bullocks". I'm in a 
>>>>> weird mood...)
>>>> I always thought the "free as in beer" came from this: 
>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Froggy_Evening
>>>
>>> *shrug* For all I know it could have come from that. But one thing I 
>>> do know: Chuck Jones is an animation god :)
>>
>> I attended a lecture by him once. He's also engaging and a very nice 
>> man. The crowd loved him, and he deserved it.
> 
> My interpretation of the phrase "Free, as in beer" is that the beer is 
> free, whenever it is not your round. When it is your turn to go to the 
> bar, it's everyone but you that gets free beer. In this context, "Free 
> Software" is that which is produced by a community where each member 
> makes a contribution in turn, either trough creating or testing, and as 
> a result everyone shares the benefit.
> 
> A...

I think everyone is reading too much into it. The point is simply to 
distinguish between gratis and libre. There's no suitable adjective to 
distinguish them in English (other than the two words themselves, which 
aren't widely used), as "free" is used to mean both. Beer is a product 
that is often given /gratis/, and the phrase "free beer" is used often 
enough ("Sure I'll come to your 
party/dinner/barbecue/your-favorite-social-event. I'm not one to turn 
down free beer!") that it gets the message across quite effectively. You 
could substitute any product for beer to the same end, but the meaning 
wouldn't be as immediately obvious methinks.

At least, that's always been my understanding. Of course, you'd have to 
ask Richard Stallman since, IIRC, it was he who first started using the 
idea of free speech vs. free beer to promote Free Software.