How can software that is free be high quality?

[Akira Urushibata]

How can software that is free be high quality?
Wisdom from ancient China sheds light

Proponents of free software stress that "free" is "freedom."  Open
source proponents say that "open source" is a better term than "free
software" because it avoids the ambiguity of the word "free."  (The
Free Software Foundation has a statement on this issue.  It is unfair
that the open source enthusiasts seldom, if ever, encourage people to
visit the Free Software Foundation's website to find out what they
have to say, but this is not the subject here.)

In reality, whether you call it "free software" or "open source," the
software is obtained, in nearly all instances, for free.  Whatever the
free software people preach, free of cost is the main reason people
are attracted.

Sometimes we get good things for free.  But we have to be careful with
good fortune.

Once Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, was
asked after one of his lectures: "If free software is free, does that
not mean that it is inferior to proprietary software, which is more
expensive?"  This is natural reasoning: people associate high price
with high quality and low price with low quality.

It is important to understand that the term "free" can lead to
prejudice.  When one is told that something is free, he may decline to
invest his time and effort to examine it, out of prejudice that it
cannot be valuable.

We have traditions to avoid this pitfall.  When we want to get
something nice for free, we say "please."  When we do get something
nice for free, we say "thanks."  From prehistoric times people
conducted ceremonies, some simple, others elaborate, to express
gratitude to the heavens for its blessings.  It was believed that
sincere expression of gratitude brought good fortune while failure to
do so brought bad fortune.  This belief persists quite firmly to this
day.

The Chinese word for gratitude is li(3).  It is an important concept
in Chinese social philosophy.  In practice the word stands for not
just the emotion, but also the expression thereof in the form of
polite speech and gestures, and gifts given in return.  In a broader
sense li is a term for proper social conduct.

As society grew sophisticated, so too did the system of li.  One
important role of the leader in a developed East-Asian society is to
instruct his subjects on matters of li by telling what is proper and
what is not.  Leaders must carefully select their delegates and
successors for the man promoted into a position of import in spite of
his poor character often corrupts li by interpreting matters to suit
selfish desires.

One way to avoid the abuse is to keep ourselves reminded on what li
originally meant.  This can be done by studying old Chinese
characters.  Chinese is written in ideograms and old forms were
graphic and are often reasonably easy to decode.

The Chinese character li has two forms:

                                             *  *               
     **     **                               *  *               
     **     **                    ******  ***********           
     **     **                    ******  *  *  *  **           
     **     **                            *  *  *  **           
 *********  **                            ***********           
 *********  **                            *  *  *  **           
       **   **                   ******** *  *  *  **           
       **   **                   ******** ***********           
      **    **                      **                          
     **     **                   ** ** * ************           
    ****    **                   ** ** * ************           
   ******   **                   ** ** *                        
  ***** **  **                   ** ** *  **********            
 *** **  *  **                   ** ** *  **      **            
 **  **  *  **                   ** ** *  **      **            
     **     **     **            ** ** *  **********            
     **     **     **            ** ** *    *    *              
     **     **     **            ** ** *    *    **             
     **     **     **            *  **      **  **              
     **     *********               **   ************           
     **      *******                **   ************           
                                                              

On the left is the modern form which is composed of a radical
signifying the divine and religion with a drawing of a man kneeling.
On the right is the traditional form which has a picture of a vessel
heaped with offerings on the right side.  The right side of the
traditional form is a character in itself which means "plentiful"
"abundant."  It is read feng(1).

                                                                
        *   **                                                  
        *   **                                                  
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   **   *   **   **                                             
   **   *   **   **                                             
   ****************                                             
   **   *   **   **                                             
   **   *   **   **                                             
   ****************                                             
                                                                
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  *******************                                           
                                                                
    **************                                              
    **          **                                              
    **          **                                              
    **          **                                              
    **************                                              
      **      **                                                
       **    ***                                                
 ********************                                           
 ********************                                           
                                                                

The bottom part of feng is also a character by itself.  Read dou(4),
originally it meant "vessel used in ceremonies" upon which offerings,
such as ears of rice or wheat, were placed.  Later the meaning changed
to "bean."
                                                                
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    **************                                              
    **************                                              
    **          **                                              
    **          **                                              
    **          **                                              
    **          **                                              
    **************                                              
    **************                                              
       *       *                                                
      **      ***                                               
      **      **                                                
       **     **                                                
       **    **                                                 
       *      *                                                 
 ********************                                           
 ********************                                           


The above gives us a straightforward idea of the meaning of the
ceremony featuring the dou vessel.  During the harvest celebration,
offerings were placed on an elevated dish, to express gratitude to the
heavens for the sunshine and rain.  Farmers do not pay anything for
the blessings of nature, but they are well aware of their value, and
have rituals to express their awareness.

That at some point in history the character for "vessel" changed
meaning to "bean" indicates that the vital power endowed in the seed
was highly praised.

Make some treat with beans and share it with your friend.  Your friend
enjoys the treat once.  Take the beans to your friend's house and tell
him how to grow them and cook them, and he can enjoy the treat many
times over.  He can share the treat with his friends, and his friends
can share with their friends, and so on.

We may consider original li as a ceremony in which people celebrated
the annual transition between links of the chain by which agriculture
is sustained.  Li was applied broadly to industry and the arts.  Li
established itself particularly well in education where seeds of
wisdom are distributed through sharing.

Akira Urushibata
composed October 2024