Thread: Word open source

The ordinary public uses the word open source ...

Well, that depends ... Don't simply assume that, and don't declare the total defeat of the free software movement, because that is not true. You just made a statement that is not true, because the ordinary public is a lot of people. Some have heard of one and some have heard of the other. It's true that more people have heard of open source, but that doesn't mean that everybody has heard of only open source.

The reason is that the supporters of open source are more in number and thus the companies who are involved with software mostly say 'open source'. And the reason is that most of those companies also are involved with proprietary software. They don't want to educate the public to reject the proprietary software on moral grounds, thus avoiding mentioning the free software movement and never mention our ethical ideas. They can win certain amount of favourable public opinion by connecting themselves with open source, and yet avoid teaching users to reject proprietary software.