Some common words include: “open source”, “free”, “libre”, “FOSS”, “FLOSS”, “closed source”, “non-free”, “proprietary”. Which ones do you like to use or not like to use, and why?
Also, I understand that some of them are not the same (e.g. “free”/“libre” and “open source”), but are sometimes used as if they were. How do you feel about that?
I personally like to use the word proprietary. It has a clear definition, even without the need for something like the Free Software Foundation or the Open Source Initiative to provide one. That cannot be said for words like “free” or “open source”. Both “free” and “open” feel very shaky. I can imagine companies allowing very minor and trivial freedoms to users, to justify promoting themselves and their products as “free” and “open”. That might not work on hardcore enthusiasts like me, but it might be enough to confuse the masses and manipulate the public’s understanding of these words. I feel like we should take that more seriously. But maybe I’m just paranoid. Please tell me what you think about this. I am very curious
Most often, I say FOSS when talking to other folks in our community. It covers all the bases and everyone knows what it means around here.
I’ve never used “Libre” and I never hear it used, outside of software names like LibreOffice.
For outsiders, I don’t use “free software.” People hear “free” and only think it refers to the price. I don’t care too much for the debate between “free” and “Open source,” I get the distinction, but I think compromise is necessary if we want to have any hope of moving people away from proprietary software.
If I only stuck to GNU-style free software, I would never have switched away from proprietary software. If you want to do more than just write text emails and play 5 games ever, you have to move away from “pure” free software.
That being said, I use mostly FOSS software on all my platforms. All my computers and servers run Linux. My cell phone uses GrapheneOS. I self host almost all my services like Jellyfin and my TrueNAS. I’m a massive FOSS advocate, and I push hard against proprietary software all the time.
People hear “free” and only think it refers to the price
Yes, that’s why I don’t like to use it either.
GNU-style free software
I don’t understand what you mean by that.
I push hard against proprietary software all the time.
That is good to hear, fellow soldier.
Open source. Because for me this term is the most general.
And the most recognized in general circles.
Free: closed source, Dev can make it non-free any time they want, add monetization, ads, collect and sell data, change licensing, etc at any time and you just have to deal with it or switch software
Foss/open source: if the Dev tries to monetize, add ads, go private, collect/sell data, people will just fork a non shitty version and maintain that
This is a good example of the “free as in freedom, not free beer” problem that “Lettuce eat lettuce” mentioned. In this context, “free” refers to the 4 essential freedoms as defined be the Free Software Foundation
“Paranoid”, “Pointless”, “Basement”, “Obsessive”, “Hackers”, “nerds”.
It is still a very very very very marginal and marginalyzed topic unless your social cyrcle is a very specific one.
In my experience the positive and/or effective ones are “GDPR”, “Snowden”, “Surveillance”, “Freedom”…
Free Software, proprietary, open-weight models, source-available, FLOSS, copyleft, permissive license.
I think “open source” should mean what the OSI wants it to say, since they coined that term. But not all people agree and since they use it for different things and marketing, it’s lost some of its intended meaning. I don’t want to confuse people. And I also don’t like to use terms that can be (mis)used by the source-available people or people who add the commons clause, so I always try to include “free” as in freedom or “libre”.
Trustworthy, community-made, free, efficient, customizable
Most the people getting the term “open source” wrong tend to use it to refer to so-called “source available” software - damn to I hate that name. IMHO, “open” being overloaded to mean both libre/free and open to read is where most of the confusion stems from. I like the FOSS/FLOSS acronyms for this reason.
