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Actual meaning of Free Software: Free as is beer versus Free as in speech

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Feb 29, 2012

“Open source is said to distribute free software, so far so
good, but what exactly we mean by free? Free as is Beer or Free as
in Speech?

The difference can be narrowed down to ‘no money’ versus ‘no
restrictions (or a bit of them)’. In English, free is often
mistaken for both the meanings but in Spanish they have different
words for them, Gratis and Libre.


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Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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