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Are You Ready to Switch to GNU/Linux?
app103:
I posted the free beer question on Quora because I'd love to know the true origin of that expression, myself. :D
Renegade:
I posted the free beer question on Quora because I'd love to know the true origin of that expression, myself. :D
-app103 (January 10, 2011, 07:45 AM)
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I believe that it is a twist on this (from gnu.org):
“Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech”, not as in “free beer”.
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And has been corrupted. Though I would leave a definitive answer to someone else.
Edvard:
Yes, that is the definition straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.
I think "free beer" would be better referenced as "something of value that is given away" when speaking of software.
If you brought a six-pack of beer to your neighbor, saying "Here, I thought you might like some!", he'd most likely appreciate the gesture.
So, straight freeware would be free in that sense.
It has value, it does something useful for the user, but it doesn't cost anything.
The whole concept of "free as in free speech" as Richard Stallman envisions it has more to do with the state of mind of a programmer, researcher or hacker.
He wants to be able to learn and share what is learned with others in order to improve the computer-scientist ecosystem.
Freeware isn't free in that sense because while you're free to use it, you don't have the freedom to learn from it, improve it, or fix it's bugs if you have the ability.
$0.02
app103:
I believe that it is a twist on this (from gnu.org):
“Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech”, not as in “free beer”.
--- End quote ---
And has been corrupted. Though I would leave a definitive answer to someone else.
-Renegade (January 10, 2011, 08:41 AM)
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But why "free beer" and not something else like "free lunch"? The whole statement as quoted from there seems to imply (at least to me) that is is some sort of concept that would be familiar and easily understood. And I have seen it elsewhere, used quite frequently in the p2p world, going all the way back to the Napster days. So this could be an expression they borrowed rather than invented themselves.
Edvard:
RMS has been working on this concept for a very long time, since the '70's if I recall correctly.
Also, "free beer" would make sense if he was in college at the time... :-\
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