Comment 4 for bug 442882

On Mon, 2009-10-05 at 15:44 +0000, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> Hi Ioannis, thanks for this report.
>
> In a future version, "Get Free Software" will become "Get Software",
> with "Free Software" and "Paid Software" subsections. In the meantime,
> it is important to emphasize that all the software is free, because many
> new Ubuntu users will be unfamiliar with the idea of all the software
> being free.
>
> You appear to be concerned with the distinction between open-source and
> closed-source software. Where the Center can deduce the licensing status
> of an application, this is displayed in the application screen, e.g.
> "License: Open source". We don't show this in the top-level navigation,
> though, because that would be unduly prominent given the small
> proportion of people who understand and care about licensing.
>
> If you think there is some other reason we shouldn't use the term "Free
> Software", let us know.

Well, the term "Free" as used in the open source world (and defined by
FSF: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html ), does not include free
to use, but closed source software.

In this case, because closed source, but free-to-use software can be
used (e.g. Google Earth in Medibuntu repository, or some company
providing a local repository of purchased software for their desktops),
I think the word "Free" must be replaced with a more accurate one, like
"available", "available to use", or something like that, to reflect more
accurately the availability to use some software, which may not be open
sourced, but may be even purchased.

So I think the examples I provided, are good examples of this usage:

"For example:

"Get Free Software", can become "Get Available Software", in the
application.

The sentence:

"The Ubuntu Software Center is a virtual catalog of thousands of free
applications available for Ubuntu - software to make your computer more
useful",

can become:

"The Ubuntu Software Center is a virtual catalog of thousands of
available applications for Ubuntu - software to make your computer more
useful", in the Help".

Best regards,

--
Ioannis Vranos

C95 / C++03 Software Developer

http://www.cpp-software.net