A new brand for Free Software and Open Source: "Freedomware"
"There has been a heated battle for sometime now between what the proper name for software that is free of cost and open for people to modify the source code should be called. "Free Software" or "Open Source Software." In the geek realm everyone understands which is which most have chosen sides and have their flame throwers primed. Both of these terms have their merits. However neither provide a clear and concise idea as to what it means to people in their everyday life." -- Read more
This is the beginning of the first article posted on a just-opened Freedomware.name, a web site which should serve to promote this new brand for all Free Software or Open Source Software, whichever way you must call it.
We have been engaging in a marketing related discussion ourselves where we have also mentioned this brand. You are welcome to join us. Libervis.com has, from the beginning, been focused on the freedom aspect of software and digital culture as a value that was and continues to be integral to the integrity of the software industry and digital culture in general. That is why the development of a new sweeping brand for software that is licensed in a way that respects users freedom is of great interest to us.
There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. -- Victor Hugo
That was quoted in an IBM "Linux" commercial, but.. isn't the idea of freedom in software much larger than "Linux" itself? That's what we believe in and we believe its time is coming.
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I'm curious... Why do we
I'm curious...
Why do we need yet another name for the exact same thing? If you saw the concept of "Free and Open Source Software" being too confusing, you should drop the Open Source part - that has nothing to do with Freedom and adding it in there just serves to confuse people.
Open Source advocates, who've rejected the principals of freedom and ethics won't adopt "Freedomware" because, for then, it's not about Freedom.
And Free Software has always been about that.
I don't see the need for a new name. Now, a change in the ideology...
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Isn't it obvious? Free
Isn't it obvious? Free Software has that one last disadvantage, the double meaning of the word "Free". "Freedomware" deals with that.
Also, my impression is that most people who just say "Open Source" don't say it because they are so much against freedom as much because they don't prioritize it. Not everyone is ESR and not everyone actually actively tries to hide the talk of freedom (not that ESR really still does that sort of thing, but his initial objectives sure suggest that).
In other words I think quite a few people who say "Open Source" may want to align with the Freedomware brand as well.
All this said, bear in mind that, at least as far as I am concerned, the "Freedomware" brand is not a replacement of either of the "official" terms. In my view it is just a marketing campaign on behalf of FOSS, leading and leaning towards "Free Software".
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