Re: OT: Meaning of the word "free"

[dewar@gnat.com (Robert Dewar)]

Kilgallen@SpamCop.net (Larry Kilgallen) wrote in message news:<MGpFFSdbDgLH@eisner.encompasserve.org>...
> I suppose the English "free" is often an abbreviation for 
> "free of charge"

Well sometimes yes, sometimes no, When New Hampshire people
drive around with "Live Free or Die" on their license plates it does
not mean they are madly driving around looking for free hamburgers.
Equally when Martin Luther
King said "Free, free at last", he was not talking about
winning the lottery.

The word in English is used pretty equally in both senses.
You usually know from context which is meant. The only 
reason we have this discussion is that when we talk of
Free Software, the context is often ambiguous, and we do
get confused in English (though not in French, where for
example ACT Europe uses the phrase "GNAT Pro, c'est libre,
may c'est n'est pas gratuit", which does not translate well

> whereas the FSF "free" is an abbreviation for "free of 
> certain contractual

No, that's actually the wrong way of looking at it. The
Free in free software is referring to the fact that as a
recipient of the software, you are free (i.e. have the
freedom) to make effective use of the software, including
for example modification and redistribution.

Yes, it is true that this freedom corresponds to being free
of contractual restrictions, but that's really not the proper
emphasis. The Free in Free Software is definitely
the "Live Free or Die" use of the word, not the "bug-free"
use of the word (the two uses are related but distinct).

Robert Dewar