Hacker News Reader

Comment by Jedd | Hacker News Reader

I considered this position some years ago, but concluded in the time it takes to explain that libre is a word from another language that means 'free in the sense of speech, not beer', I could just say I'm using the word free in the sense of speech, not beer.

These days I don't think the problem is the use of the ostensibly ambiguous word 'free', so much as that people (generic) don't really value freedom (or privacy) as much as we would like them to.

View on HN

"Generic" people probably only come into contact with FLOSS principles when the plane reboots the entertainment center and they accidentally catch a glimpse of the Linux penguin in the boot screen.

On the near zero chance they remember the penguin and ask a free software zealot about it, they'd likely get an earful about how that is a symbol taken from the 2nd Presbyterian Church of Code, and please don't confuse that with the symbology from the 1st Presbyterian Church of Code across the street from it.[1]

The only FLOSS orgs I know that conceivably care about that generic person sitting in coach are Mozilla and Whisper Systems. And both are small time players compared to their proprietary competition.

Given that, it is extraordinary that normal people know anything at all about digital freedom and privacy.

[1] Just remembered that Linux is GPLv2 licensed, and that the religious zealotry would probably be about Linux not being GNU, but rather a "final" piece that was "good enough" to use in conjunction with other GPLvs licensed OS tools. So it's even worse-- this is like explaining to someone that they're reading the right book in the wrong wing of the right church. I love FLOSS so much.

What about “freedom software“? I know it’s grammatically incorrect but it sends the right message.

Speaking as an Australian, a “Freedom” prefix makes it sound like yet another cheesy American grab at patriotism.

(This may come across as snark, but it seriously isn’t. “Freedom” anything has been polluted, IMHO)

Sounds like Australia needs some Freedom(TM).

Fair point. For what it’s worth I’m British (but expat in the States).

Speaking as an American, that's exactly what I first thought too.

Right, like Freedom units. The temperature is 74F, the F is for freedom

Molecules of freedom?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/29/energy-depa...

Perhaps bytes of freedom?

And considering the US Department of Energy just started labeling fossil fuels as "molecules of freedom" and "freedom gas"(no joke)[1] it looks like that only gets worse.

[1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/05/us-department-of...

I generally refer to the general cause/movement as "software freedom". I sometimes call the software itself "freedom-respecting software".

like the "molecules of freedom" or "freedom gas" but then "programs of freedom" or "freedom software" ?

Yeah the analogy I use is "Feel free to use my garage and tools any time you like, just don't take my stuff and sell it"

Unclear about "don't use my tools for monetery gain"

Actually free licenses do not restrict selling the software.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com