On Choosing "Free Software" Or "Open Source Software"

The term "free software" is less popular than "open source software." But popularity does not decide whether something is better or worse. I argue that "free software" is better.

Understanding "open"

The word "open" reminds me of the open sign hanging on a glass door of a shop. That means the shop is open. Customers are free to choose whatever they want to buy. But they do not have the freedom to do whatever they want in the shop like singing, dancing, or sleeping. An open shop means you can buy stuff from it. You are not expected to do something creative there.

Understanding "free"

The word "free" has two meanings: freedom or zero price.

If you are in a shop, a free item is not actually at zero price. A common phrase like, "Buy one, get one free" shows that you have to buy something first. Then, you can get that item without an extra charge. This means you have no freedom to get another one without buying something first.

Some online services—the so-called "free online services"— or Service as a Software Substitute (SaaSS) also require you to give your data before you can use them. They do not ask for your money. They demand your data. They automatically collect your data such as your IP address, browser, operating system, and many other things. Some even state that you agree to their privacy policy by just accessing their website—what a bad surprise.

The word "free" when referring to zero price is not necessarily without any exchange or sacrifice.

Now if we discuss free speech, you know that it is not about talking without paying any money. It means the freedom to express your opinions or ideas with very few restrictions—there is no absolute freedom. You can share your opinions in any way. You can tell them through music, an image, a video, a piece of paper, an article, and any medium.

Comparing "open" and "free"

"Open mind" is not related to free speech. People say they are related. But they do not. When people say, "Open your mind!" They want you to accept different ideas. But know that you can reject them.

"Free speech" means you can express your ideas freely. It deals with the freedom to tell different opinions. While "open mind" deals with the acceptance of different opinions.

Being open and being free is different. If people ask your opinion, you may not be free to say whatever you want. For example, if someone who is not a Christian asks me, "What do you think about my religion?" That does not mean the person allows me to say anything I want about it. The person may not be open-minded—accept my opinions. Still, I can say my opinions. But I can not say whatever I want—being free.

The same goes for "open dialog" which means two or more people are sharing different ideas. The term does not mean people have freedom of speech. Probably lots of rules are applied in an open dialog to reduce the chance of them ending up fighting.

Comparing "free software" and "open source software"

The meaning of "open source software" is very close to "the source code of a software is available publicly." You can see it. But you may not be free to change or even use it. A good example is public repositories on GitHub or any other platform without a license. You are free to look around, but you are not allowed to use or change them unless there is a license that states otherwise. This means making your source code publicly visible does not mean giving freedom to people to use and change it.

"Open source software" does not tell anything about freedom—both implicitly and explicitly. It means the source code of the software is publicly available. That does not give you any practical benefits. To know more than that, you need to study the definition.

"Free software" means you are free to use it in any way and do whatever you want with the source code. There is nothing stopping you from doing anything possible and legal. You can sell it. You can destroy it. You can remove a feature. You can add more code. You are free.

The weakness of "free software" is that the idea of freedom is not recognized by most of the users. They think that the software has zero price. Nothing more. Even if the developer says they have the four essential freedoms as defined by the Free Software Foundation (FSF), most of the users do not know how to program. Their friends also may not know about programming. Mostly, they care about using it only.

But the weakness is simple to mitigate. Explain to people that you are not talking about price. Tell them about the idea of freedom. You do not need to explain the whole philosophy of free software if they are not interested or do not care. Also, the weakness is in the English language. In the Indonesian language, for example, it has the word "bebas" to mean free as in "free speech."

In the English language, you can use the word "libre" together with "free" to show the software respects the users' essential freedoms: free/libre software.

Summary

I prefer using "free software." At least the word "free" is associated with freedom. In this case, free software means its users have the four essential freedoms.

Both terms are ambiguous in general. If you choose to use "open source," you may need to explain to people whether that means the source code is publicly available or the source code is under a free license. The same goes for me. If I use "free software," I may need to explain whether that means software with zero price or software under a free license.