Hacker News Reader

It is quite interesting how many misunderstandings the two meanings of the word "free" have created for the "free" software movement and open source. Maybe time for the community to push for a new word being added to the English dictionary? I have already seen libre being used here and there.

View on HN

“Free software” means software that respects users' freedom and community. Roughly, it means that the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Thus, “free software” is a matter of liberty, not price.

Of course. But the word "free" has two meanings, which is my point.

I was thinking the other day that naybe "open software" was a better name for exactly this reason.

Or maybe the commercial misuse of the word free should be challenged?

Generally “included (in the price)”, complimentary (costless but usually limited) or another word better fits the situation. But everyday language around this has gotten very imprecise.

I'm not a native speaker, but is it realy misuse? I frequently see "free of charge", but that's too long for conversational speech. Costless looks like a perfect match, (re-)borrowing from Germanic roots.

gratis

Yes. That one is coming from the other direction (Latin).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com