Re: Questions for candidates

[josh joshtriplett org]

On Mon, Jun 01, 2015 at 10:43:39PM -0400, Richard Stallman wrote:
>   >   To that
>   > end, I have a first draft of "Responsible Distribution of Free and Open
>   > Source Software", which I'd love to get feedback on.
>
> Please don't call it that.  Using the term "free and open source software"
> means you miss the opportunity to publicly support the free software movement.
>
> That term presents "open source" more visibly than "free software".
[...]

I'm well aware of the distinction, and I make a point of saying Free
Software (with the capitalization) in most places.  In contexts where
that would potentially be misunderstood, or where others would typically
say "Open Source", I go out of my way to ensure that Free Software is at
the very least included rather than leaving it out entirely.

In this particular case, my aim is to provide a minimal set of
requirements that apply to all software hosting sites, even those that
choose to label themselves as "Open Source" rather than as "Free
Software".  In this case, my goal is to get universal agreement about
things that a hosting site *must not* do with software it distributes,
rather than, in this instance, to attempt to talk those sites into
signing onto a statement about Free Software.  We're talking about a
baseline of "don't put malware on users' systems", here.

That said, in contexts such as this, I'd be happy to switch from saying
"Free and Open Source Software" to saying "Free Software / Open Source
Software" or "Free, Libre, and Open Source Software", if you feel that
that would more fully acknowledge Free Software.

- Josh Triplett