Skype is not free software

[Benjamin Edwards]

I totally agree that gratis software neither capitalizes on the
philosophical or social benefits of open source but it is a label which
describes some software and it therefore useful.  If nothing else in
that it enables the weaknesses of this type of software to be easily
defines.

ben

>>> William Anderson <william.anderson at lumison.net> 09/27/04 06:30pm
>>>
Benjamin Edwards wrote:
> 'gratis software' as opposed to 'free software' or 'open source 
> software' - I kind of like this as succinct way of making the
distinction.

when using "gratis", the distinction isn't made clear.  Free Software 
means it can be freely (re-)distributed, freely used, freely modified,

etc.  Simply defining it as 'not free of charge' fails to suitably
cover 
  'non-free', as non-free software exists which is certainly not Free,

where Free means unencumbered by capability to redistribute and/or 
modify freely, but is certainly free of cost or charge.

Think about the nVidia drivers - they cost nothing to download, but you

are encumbered by the licence nVidia releases them under, and you have

no source to recompile / modify / tweak / etc.  Those drivers are free

of charge, but not Free as in libre.

-- 
William Anderson
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