DRAFT FAQ: Free vs. Open

[Philippe Verdy]

Raj Mathur [mailto:raju at linux-delhi.org]
> Matter of opinion, really.  From my point of view FOSS is preferable to
> both Free Software and Open Source, since it acknowledges both camps'
> (valid) points of view, and is rapidly gaining popularity (as the 6.5
> million hits for an otherwise meaningless string of characters
> testify). 

Personnaly, I've seen "FLOSS" much more often than "FOSS". I interpret it
as: "Free as Libre or Open Source", but some see it as "Free Licence vs.
Open Source" in order to maintain the split of visions

And some other will make it even more visible by using "FSF/OSI Licenced"
softwares (creating the quite dumb "FOL" acronym which is also a masculine
form of the French adjective "fou", meaning "crazy").

It's true that acronyms are dangerous and not very meaningful in any humane
language, unless they are clearly identifiable (as protected
corporate/organization names or trademarks, or when transformed and accepted
in common dictionaries of some language into regular words without required
capitals).