You've got the history wrong. There was "free software," such as TeX, before the Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project, but, as Stallman explained the story, no one called it that -- sharing source code was simply the way hackers did it. Stallman launched the GNU project in 1984, after realizing that the "hacker" ethic he believed was being wiped out as hackers were being hired by commercial enterprises, and software was being enclosed within copyrights, patents, and non-disclosure agreements.
See http://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html.
The Open Source Initiative was founded in 1998, explicitly to break with the FSF's perceived hostility towards commercial software, in order to create the possibility of partnerships between open source software developers and commercial enterprises.
See http://opensource.org/history
Personally, I have issues with both camps. Free software is a public good, but it doesn't trump all other considerations, ethical and practical. Practical success matters -- widespread adoption matters -- but not at the cost of abandoning the ethical principles. You must be consistently ethical and practical to succeed.
My first thought was, "It's the 'thruster' technology from the roleplaying game, Traveller!"
My second was, "Traveller was wrong again. We didn't invent 'grav' propulsion first."
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You've got the history wrong. There was "free software," such as TeX, before the Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project, but, as Stallman explained the story, no one called it that -- sharing source code was simply the way hackers did it. Stallman launched the GNU project in 1984, after realizing that the "hacker" ethic he believed was being wiped out as hackers were being hired by commercial enterprises, and software was being enclosed within copyrights, patents, and non-disclosure agreements. See http://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html. The Open Source Initiative was founded in 1998, explicitly to break with the FSF's perceived hostility towards commercial software, in order to create the possibility of partnerships between open source software developers and commercial enterprises. See http://opensource.org/history Personally, I have issues with both camps. Free software is a public good, but it doesn't trump all other considerations, ethical and practical. Practical success matters -- widespread adoption matters -- but not at the cost of abandoning the ethical principles. You must be consistently ethical and practical to succeed.
My first thought was, "It's the 'thruster' technology from the roleplaying game, Traveller!" My second was, "Traveller was wrong again. We didn't invent 'grav' propulsion first."