Bill wrote his letter 21 years before this definition materialized and it actually served to inspire the free software/open source concept altogether.

> There is a viable alternative to the problems raised by Bill Gates in his irate letter to computer hobbyists concerning "ripping off" software. When software is free, or so inexpensive that it's easier to pay for it than to duplicate it, then it won't be "stolen".

—Jim Warren, July 1976