Still no new license -- but draft text available

[Grant Griffin]

Pat McCann wrote:
> 
> jwe at bahaha.che.wisc.edu (John W. Eaton) writes:
> 
> > Grant Griffin <g2 at seebelow.org> writes:
> ...
> > > In GNUspeak, the "free" part means both "free in a cost sense" and "free
> > > in a freedom sense".
> ...
> [John quotes from GPL preamble.]
> > Note the first sentence.  ``... we are referring to FREEDOM, not PRICE.''
> 
> As usual, there is a disconnect between the sale's pitch and the
> fine print.  In the "TERMS AND CONDITIONS" you find:
> 
> "...THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE..."
> 
> Why they (as in "we" above) wouldn't want "free software" to also refer
> to its universally praised zero price is not a question I can answer
> (I suppose it relates to someone's obsession with commercial licensing),
> but, in fact, "free software" DOES refer also to price in GNUspeak.  It
> is almost certainly a better sales hook than the silly freedom thing.
> Once people get in the door, they then start to buy the sillyness.

Exactly.  Given the statement that John quotes, it would make much more
sense to call it "Freedom Software"--you know, like "Liberty Bonds". 
(Kindda brings a tear to you eye, don't it. <sniffle>)  And as someone
whose software is licensed under the GPL--and even distributed by the
FSF--perhaps John can help us understand why the less apt term "free
software" is used (and why they don't even have the common decency to
capitalize a general term that they use as a brand name...)  Oh, and
perhaps John can tell us how much the FSF charges for each copy of his
Octave package that they distribute--surely they don't do all that for
_free_! (Er...excuse me "at no cost".)

I have no hard data to support the following, but one can reasonably
guess that a very high percentage of those who aren't initiated in
GNUspeak would assume that "free software" means "software you don't
have to pay for".  It's a darn shame that the GNU folks have twisted the
lexicon so it doesn't.

strangely,-"freeware"-means-something-a-lot-more-like-"free
   -software"-than-"free-software"-does-ly y'rs,

=g2
-- 
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Grant R. Griffin                                       g2 at dspguru.com
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