Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Amusing Free Software Story

[rysiek]

Dnia wtorek, 17 marca 2015 22:50:21 Aaron Wolf pisze:
> I'm sorry, but it's ok to take a stand for "free software" only in the
> context that you want to go about explaining it — which we *should*
> want to do, but can't always be done.
> 
> "Open" has always been an inadequate term from the beginning. It
> didn't start fine and then get messed up. So, there's no analog to the
> idea that "libre" starts fine and then will get corrupted.
> 
> "Libre" is a fine term overall, and the idea that it's going to end up
> with "libre-washing" is really just paranoid speculation. There's no
> reason to think it's susceptible to the same issues, given that Open
> was mediocre term to start with.
> 
> "Software freedom" is a perfectly fine term, and if we want to stand
> our ground, that's the term we should stand on.

Agreed. It just seemed to me that the discussion was drifting in the direction 
of "we need to find a better term than free software, as that one is already 
lost". And I feel this is not the right direction.

As far as "starts fine, gets corrupted", just look at the term "hacktivism". 
It was specifically used to distance "hacktivists" from "hackers" due to the 
bad air in the media and public mind around that latter term. The effect? 
Already the media are using "hacktivist"/"hacktivism" similarly to how they 
use "hacker".

My stance is: instead of creating new terms once we start getting problems 
with the old ones, we should defend the old ones.

As soon as "libre" will start to be recognizable at large, "libre-washing" 
*will* start. Partly due to misunderstanding of the term, partly due to 
conscious manipulation of people/organisations trying to profit from it 
without really heeding its values.

And I am not saying we should not use "libre" -- au contraire! But IMVHO we 
should definitely not say "the term free is lost, too many people use it in 
the wrong sense".

-- 
Pozdrawiam,
Michał "rysiek" Woźniak

Zmieniam klucz GPG :: http://rys.io/pl/147
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