[OT] What is Open Source? (was Re: ANN: Twisted 0.16.0...)

[Paul Rubin]

hzhu at mars.localdomain (Huaiyu Zhu) writes:
> I'm interested in what people mean when they say "free software" or "open
> source software".  I might also be interested in hearing the justification
> given for different preferences, but not before the speaker makes clear what
> he means by these terms.

This is explained at length in 

  http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html

> If you know that there are at least two movements that do not even agree
> on the usage of terms, it is somewhat pointless in starting a sales pitch
> without identifying which movement you are pitching for and how its terms
> differ from the others.

It's pretty clear to me that Stephen is pitching from the Open Source
perspective.  The Free Software side is generally pro-GPL.

This article (linked from the gnu.org url above) is also pretty good:

  http://www.itworld.com/AppDev/350/LWD010523vcontrol4