Free Software is rather than Open Source Code

Why Free Software ' is better than Open Source

While it sounds the same and it seems that free software gives you the same freedom , it makes a great difference which word is used

In 1998 , some of the people in the free software community began using the term open source software ' instead of free software ' to describe what they do . The term open source ' quickly became associated with a different approach , a different philosophy , different values , and even a different criterion for which licenses are acceptable . The Free Software movement and the

Open Source movement are today separate movements with different views and goals , although we can and do work together on some practical projects

The fundamental difference between the two movements is in their values their ways of looking at the world . For the Open Source movement , the issue of whether software should be open source is a practical question not an ethical one . As one person put it , Open source is a development methodology free software is a social movement ' For the Open Source movement , non-free software is a suboptimal solution . For the Free Software movement , non-free software is a social problem and free software is the solution . [1]

We speak about Free Software

Free Software is often referred to as "Open Source " This is a result of an attempt by the Open Source Initiative (OSI ) to create a marketing campaign for Free Software

The OSI set out to maintain the integrity of the movement and prevent abuse by proprietary vendors by introducing "Open Source " as a trademark for Free Software but this initiative failed

Examining the development of the Open Source Initiative after three years , it becomes apparent that the reasons to prefer the term Free Software have become even more true . Speaking of Free Software or the equivalent term in other languages offers many advantages , which we explain below "Free Software " is easier to understand

Although some people say that using the term "free " creates ambiguity many languages have separate terms referring to freedom and price . In these languages , the term "free " is not ambiguous . It may be in others including English , but in those misunderstandings can easily be avoided by pointing out that free refers to freedom , not price

The terminology "Open Source " refers to having access to the source code . But access to the source code is only a precondition for two of the four freedoms that define Free Software . Many people do not understand that access to the source code alone is not enough "Free Software " avoids catering to this relatively common misunderstanding

Free Software is harder to abuse

Unfortunately many companies have started calling their products "Open Source " if at least some parts of the source code can be seen . Users buy this software believing they are purchasing something "as good as GNU /Linux " because it claims to follow the same principle

We should not allow proprietary vendors to abuse people 's enthusiasm like this . Since the "Open Source " trademarking initiative failed...