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Re: MOSTLY OFF-TOPIC: Communicating with the Academic Community

Subject: Re: MOSTLY OFF-TOPIC: Communicating with the Academic Community
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2002 12:59:00 -0700


Pat Anderson wrote:

I thought that was "Open software."

The terms are "free software" and "open source."

Both development communities believe in the availability of source code, but their emphasises are different. The free software community believes that the ability to view, copy and change source code should be a basic freedom in our computer-oriented age. By contast, the open source community believes that freely available source code is desirable because it makes development and debugging quicker and produces better code.

To some extent, these terms are interchangeable.The two communities overlap closely, and often use the same licences. If you're not involved with either movement, then the differences between them probably seem so small as to be non-existent.

However,in some circles, misidentifying a person's preferences will be taken as an insult or a sign of ignorance. For example, Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation, constantly explains that he is not a member of the open source movement.

--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7177

"To Newgate Gaol they took him, the Ranter's dream was dead,
He had no taste for martyrdom; 'I will recant,' he said,
'I banished sin, but I have erred, it cannot be denied
'That these are sin: greed, tyranny, hypocrisy and pride.'"
- Leon Rosselson, "Abezier Coppe"



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References:
MOSTLY OFF-TOPIC: Communicating with the Academic Community: From: Darren Barefoot
Re: MOSTLY OFF-TOPIC: Communicating with the Academic Community: From: Pat Anderson

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