[Savannah-hackers] [support #102394] Incorrect license for project pygmalion

[nobody]

Support Request #102394, was updated on Wed 09/03/2003 at 17:59
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Category: None
Status: Closed
Priority: 5
Summary: Incorrect license for project pygmalion

By: mboeh
Date: Fri 09/05/2003 at 01:11
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I'd like to clarify this particular issue.



My project is directed towards non-technical users, and I

have had the good fortune of discovering a community of

users using a similar shareware product. The explanation for

not using the term 'free software' is, sadly, marketing, as

I'll explain.



Pygmalion is absolutely Free software. I am a supporter of

the FSF and GNU; I do not use any non-Free software on my

machines, period. I in fact have some rather strong

ideological issues with the Open Source Initiative,

basically identical to the ones the FSF has.



The problem is, the audience for my program is rather

computer-illiterate. The users of the analogous shareware

game are teenagers as well as older adults. These are not

hardcore gamers by any stretch, and they aren't particularly

interested in the politics of software. On one hand, this

suggests a previously untouched group of people to be

introduced to the Free Software movement; on the other hand,

their relative ignorance requires some discretion.



What I've been working towards here is a simple fact: the

shareware users I am targeting have a cultural prejudice

against so-called "freeware," which they characterize as

shoddy garbage worth less than what they paid for it. (This

is often true, although there are some inexplicably non-Free

freeware products that are very good.) Some basic market

surveys showed that they would be less likely to download

and use a game described as "Free Software" than one

described as "open source."



However, I did notice that I wrote "Open Source." The

capitalization, I recognize, suggests an affinity to OSI. It

was a purely reflexive typo and I've replaced it with

something more neutral.



My eventual goal is evangelism. I want to use Pygmalion to

prove to the less technically inclined that Free software

can be quality software, and to do that I have to use naming

legerdemain.



I hope this rather windy reply has explained my reasoning

sufficiently.

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By: yeupou
Date: Thu 09/04/2003 at 08:01
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Fixed.      
      
I nothing something in your description I did not noticed       
at first:      
 
Note that Savannah supports projects of the Free Software   
movement, not projects of the Open Source movement.   
   
We are careful about ethical issues and insist on   
producing software   
that is not dependent on proprietary software.   
   
While Open Source as defined by its founders means   
something pretty   
close to Free Software, it's frequently misunderstood.    
For more   
information, read   
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html   
   
We would prefer if you use the expression free software 
instead of open  source. 
 
Regards,  

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