One of the most contentious words in the OpenSource/FreeSoftware movements. The problem is that in English there are two different meanings of the word "free":

As in beer

It doesn't cost anything.

As in speech

It's not confined, it has freedom, etc...

FreeSoftware is about "Free as in Free Speech", even though no cost is usually associated with it. Thus the confusion persists. People tend to talk about "Free as in freedom" with a capital F and "free as in beer" with a lowercase "f". YMMV.

To ensure maximum confusion there's also Vores Øl (Our Beer) which is Free beer. And perhaps it could be said that "free speech" hasn't been quite the same since 9/11. I personally advocate the expression "Free as in Free Market" to get the point across. People usually understand that the Free Market thing is about having fewer trade restrictions, not a market where you can obtain goods at no cost!

Perhaps it would be better if people used the latin words libre (as in liberty) and gratis (as in no cost)...

A good discussion about why things should be Free posted on xiph.org.

CategoryPolitics