Comment 6 for bug 442882

On Tue, 2009-10-06 at 16:15 +0000, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> I don't think there is any way of describing that something is free of
> charge better than using the word "free". Your suggestion, "available",
> doesn't serve the purpose: it applies just as well to software that
> costs money ("available for only $19.95") as software that doesn't.
> Other possibilities would be "Price: Zero" or "Price: $0", but neither
> of those would work in headings or in the navigation pane ("Get $0
> Software"), and currency would also be hard to localize.
>
> On the flip side, it is unfortunate that the FSF and its associates use
> the term "free software" in a sense that cannot be understood without
> explanation. I habitually used "free software" too, right up until the
> moment when I came to design the license presentation in this program
> and realized, oh crap, hardly anyone is going to understand that. This
> wouldn't be the first time a term coined by Richard Stallman has
> succumbed to contact with the real world, and it probably won't be the
> last. Fortunately in this case, though, we have an alternative in "open
> source" -- where even if people don't yet know what it means, at least
> they're much less likely to mislead themselves.
>
> No matter how much you or I care about software licensing, more people
> care more about its price. There are various ways we can nudge people
> towards caring more about licensing (see the Hardware Drivers window for
> a slightly overwrought example), and I look forward to designing future
> features that will help people keep track of which proprietary packages
> they have installed, whether any of those have open-source equivalents,
> and so on. But in this case we really do need to use the word "free" as
> in price. Sorry.
>
> ** Changed in: software-center (Ubuntu)
> Status: Incomplete => Invalid
>

I have to note, I am just exchanging ideas here, not pursuing to
convince you in any way.

Consider the following scenario:

You setup a repository for your company's computers, at a http site like
www.mywhatevercompany.com, where you place software that your company
*purchased*, to be available to your company's desktops/worksations.

This additional software will appear in Software Center as it is now,
under the title "Free Software", which is inaccurate.

Software Center, Synaptic, Add/Remove Software, apt-get, etc, are used
to install, remove and update available software, not only
non-commercial software.

So, at the present time (as Software Centre is *now*), I think the
phrase "Available Software" instead of "Free Software" covers all
possible situations/scenarios, for now.

That's my thoughts. Also, I have to say I am not Ubuntu Linux "fanatic",
I just use it because it suits me better right now. Before Ubuntu, I
used Scientific Linux (a Red Hat Enterpise Linux "clone").

Regards,

--
Ioannis Vranos

C95 / C++03 Software Developer

http://www.cpp-software.net