“The word free, as normally applied to inanimate objects, means
without charge (as in beer). But Stallman says his software is
free, as in ‘not subject to the control or domination of another,’
or ‘not hampered or restricted in its normal operation.’ That’s
proven to be a difficult concept, even for technologically adept
people. We hear free, we think ‘Duff,’ to put it in Simpson-ese
terms.
“Not only that, but there isn’t a ZDNET reporter, dead or alive,
who hasn’t called Richard Stallman a member of the Open Source
movement — and that chaps his hide a bit, since according to
Stallman, Open Source people simply do not see the issue of
software free-ness as a matter of principle.”
“You can’t fault Stallman for expecting hackers to be
intelligent enough to grasp the subtleties of the language. But
let’s face it, the free moniker just isn’t working out. Perhaps the
name needs to be changed. And since RMS is obviously too busy with
public speaking engagements to take the time, we hauled out
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus for him.”