[libreplanet-discuss] Positive-sounding words that, like "free", have a special meaning in the context of software

[Sam Pablo Kuper]

Dear list,


Please help me overcome a mental block.


In the context of software, unlike in the context of most other
"products", the term "free" has had, for at least 30 years (i.e. at
least as long as the FSF has been active), a particular meaning. Broadly
speaking, it means "libre", and specifically it means "in compliance
with the Four Freedoms".

Elsewhere within the context of products, and in the minds of many lay
people (even in the context of software), it usually means "gratis".


I was trying to think of terms that have comparably distinct meanings
within the context of software, in order to help explain this
distinction to people. However, the most comprehensible example I could
come up with was "bug", which in the case of software means "defect" and
outside that context would probably be assumed to mean a "arthropod" or
"creepy-crawly".

Unfortunately, that's a negative example. Using it risks one's
interlocutor subconsciously linking "free" with "bug" and "libre" with
"defect"!


Therefore, I would be grateful for suggestions of English words with
largely positive connotations that I might use in place of "bug" to
illustrate the existence of broadly software-specific meanings.

If this has already been discussed before, please instead link me to the
relevant discussion(s).


Thanks!


Sam Pablo Kuper