SFLC will love the 7th Circuit

[Alexander Terekhov]

On 10/13/07, Philippe Verdy <verdy_p at wanadoo.fr> wrote:
[...]
> You are really confusing "free as a beer or as gratis" and ...

To quote Michael Zeleny (who was expelled from the Free Software Foundation
in 1985):

------
Once upon a time, RMS wanted software to be as free as air.  Based on
this claim, I suggested that he name a repository for the same, "Free
Software Foundation".  Had I known that "free as air" meant something
else altogether, our misunderstanding would have been avoided.
------

You should really read the GNU Manifesto (original, without later added
footnotes):

"GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete
Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give
it away free to everyone who can use it. ... Once GNU is written,
everyone will be able to obtain good system software free, just like
air."

Based on this claim, Michael Zeleny came up with a descriptive phrase
"free software" as a proper name (and gave the name "Free Software
Foundation" to the organization). He was deceptively expelled from the
Free Software Foundation by the underhanded dealing of Richard Stallman,
whose allies took exception to his argument that "free" meant just
what it said in "obtain good system software free, just like air." So
he claimed.

Later came the footnotes:

"GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete
Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give
it away free to everyone who can use it.(1) ... Once GNU is written,
everyone will be able to obtain good system software free, just like
air.(2)"

http://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html#f1

"(1) The wording here was careless. The intention was that nobody
would have to pay for *permission* to use the GNU system. But the
words don't make this clear, and people often interpret them as
saying that copies of GNU should always be distributed at little or
no charge."

http://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html#f2

"(2) This is another place I failed to distinguish carefully between
the two different meanings of "free". The statement as it stands is
not false--you can get copies of GNU software at no charge, from
your friends or over the net. But it does suggest the wrong idea."

regards,
alexander.

--
"PJ points out that lawyers seem to have difficulty understanding the
GPL. My main concern with GPLv3 is that - unlike v2 - non-lawyers can't
understand it either."
                               -- Anonymous Groklaw Visitor