Re: better terminology to promote freedom

[Leah Rowe]

> I don't see any problem with "free software".  Software is like
> speech, or knowledge, and where a "free" qualification should mean
> freedom.  It is unfortunate that it has been interpreted as "gratis"
> by some people.
> 
> TBH there are more important issues to deal with in free software
> movement than agonising over the terminology "free software".
> 

Go on startpage.com, in a private browser window, with browser data
scrubbed, and search:

"free software"

Then again, "freedom software" also brings up interesting results.

In my search, FSF's free software definition *does* appear on the first
page, but the page is littered with links to merely gratis software too.

If I search "libre software", I do get links to a few projects, namely
libreoffice and librecad, but still, not a lot of good results.

Now search "open source". It has much higher quality results.

We need to gain household recognition, and I think we can do that by
using the term "freedom" while avoiding the term "free". Based purely
on looking at first page on search engine, "freedom software" and
"software freedom" already give higher quality results than "free
software".

The word "freedom" is unambiguous in people's minds. Think of it this
way:

If you're explaining it to someone new, and they're only half paying
attention, they're probably doing the verbal conversation equivalent of
"skim reading", picking up keywords in what you're saying. I think this
is most people, when we sell our ideas to them.

You need a strong terminology that piques people's interest, when
they're otherwise not inclined to listen. "Freedom" is a very positive
word that always gets a response from people, I've found.

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