Skype is not free software

[Colin Watson]

On Mon, Sep 27, 2004 at 01:52:19PM +0100, Benjamin Edwards wrote:
> I agree but recon its still worth clarifying.  Public Domain is
> probably another usefull term (not herd that for a bit).

Public domain is a very specific term, meaning that the copyright on the
work has been entirely disclaimed (not possible in all jurisdictions).
Although public domain works are free, most free software is not public
domain.

> The interesting question is what is the term for software that douse
> not cost any monay to aquire or use.  Having using the word free in
> the libre way is good but using free (as in bear) all the time is
> hardly an elegent solution.

"Free of charge" or "gratis" are reasonably idiomatic choices in
English. Other languages have better choices of words available (e.g.
libre/gratuit in French).

Cheers,

-- 
Colin Watson                                    [cjwatson at canonical.com]