The Free Software Foundation's web site [1] now runs Plone, have you noticed? Cool! That means I made significant contributions to the software run by some of my heroes. :-)

Unfortunately, the page opens with an immediate correction: Free Software is a matter of liberty not price. You should think of "Free" as in "Free Speech". I once heard a talk by Richard M. Stallman, leader of the Free Software Foundation, in which he advocated the use and development of free software instead of open source software. Free software is a type of open source software that ensures the code remains accessible. Though I understood his point, I could never take him seriously because the term "free software" is too close to "freeware". An anonymous comment [2] on Slashdot voiced my feelings:

Here's the thing -- a random member of the public, hearing the word "free software", will immediately jump to the conclusion that it doesn't cost anything. Especially since the way the word is most often used in the media as "gratis", and since the Windows world is full of "freeware" -- most of it low quality software that supports the proposition "you get what you pay for".

The same person will not have any idea what "open source" means, since he is unlikely to even know what source code is. Instead of being misinformed by the term, he will notice there is something here he doesn't understand.

Which is better, from a public-education point of view? The term that immediately misleads your audience from what is meant, or the term that is a semantic nullity, in which you can pour meaning?

Thus the name of Stallman's foundation handicaps its own marketing. I never talk about free software in conversation because it's too likely to be misunderstood. I always talk about open source, even when my intent is more specific.

Even something loud like "liberty software" would be a better name. The term "free software" was good while it was limited to a small community, but to reach a worldwide audience (as I believe it is trying to do), the FSF needs a new English name. The name the FSF assigned itself in languages such as Portuguese doesn't have this problem; The "livre" in "software livre" is unambiguous.