Comment by ksec
4 hours ago
It is great that you post and quoted this. In which I suggest you reread the page yourself. It make the case very clear.
There are literally 4 - 5 paragraphs on the whole thing with examples what is considered free software. Directly from RMS himself.
>Another misunderstanding of “open source” is the idea that it means “not using the GNU GPL.” This tends to accompany another misunderstanding that “free software” means “GPL-covered software.” These are both mistaken, since the GNU GPL qualifies as an open source license and most of the open source licenses qualify as free software licenses[1]. There are many free software licenses* aside from the GNU GPL. *
And in [1],
>Modified BSD license (#ModifiedBSD) This is the original BSD license, modified by removal of the advertising clause. It is a lax, permissive non-copyleft free software license, compatible with the GNU GPL.
>This license is sometimes referred to as the 3-clause BSD license.
I actually originally asked on what you were suggesting because the idea that BSD is not Free software died a more than decade ago. That is the whole reason why Stallman wrote the page and even mentioned Rust as an example. Along with issues came up from Tivo etc. I am surprised it is now rising up again.
In the context of free software licenses, free software is a wider category that contains permissively licensed software, since it also offers users the same freedoms as copyleft.
I was talking about the culture and values though. Open source is perfectly fine with proprietary software, and even encourages it. Free software most definitely isn't, and goes out of its way to prohibit it.
They are not the same.