Re: [fsf-community-team] What's in a name............

[Florian Purucker]

Dear all,

Mike VandeVelde:
> NATURAL SOFTWARE

I do not think this is a suitable replacement. As you said, in the natural
state, there is only survival of the fittest and rule of force. This is not
quite the same as freedom though, because you only become truly free if
others agree to respect your freedom if you do the same for everyone else.
Without such an agreement, your freedom is worth nothing, because you
constantly have to defend yourself against others, who are potentially
stronger. Furthermore, just because something is natural, does not make it
morally necessary to keep it that way. Freedom on the other hand is
something we should strive for if we want to be moral. I could go into more
detail about why this is a moral value, but I think that would take us too
far off topic.

As to Free Software/Freedom Software:
I think Freedom Software is a term that can be used, but I still do not
think it should replace the term Free Software. The latter is simply
already in use frequently and renaming everything would only complicate
things (just think about having a Freedom Software Foundation and a Free
Software Foundation) and the sentence "Free as is freedom, not free as in
beer." is easy enough to say to someone who does not know anything about
free software.

Sincerely,
Florian