Re: Open source - Free software

[Al Klein]

On Wed, 27 Sep 2006 09:34:32 -0500, Jay Belanger <belanger@truman.edu>
wrote:

>Al Klein <rukbat@pern.invalid> writes:
>...
>> Free Software may, but free software refers to software that's free
>> (by any of the many definitions of the word "free".  (That's how
>> English [and most other languages] works.)
>
>Really?  The meaning of the adjective doesn't depend on the noun it
>modifies? 

Not necessarily.  Defining "free" as "without cost" is perfectly
legitimate, as long as the particular usage isn't illogical.  Any
meaning can be defined into uselessness if illogicality is allowed.
You wouldn't refer to "a country without cost", but anything that
*can* be charged for could be called free meaning without cost.
Software can be charged for, so it can also be provided without cost.
Forcing the meaning of free, in a particular usage, to mean unfettered
- when it's just as logical to use it to mean without charge - is
controlling, not communicating.
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