[sf-lug] [Balug-Talk] license count != software popularity (Re: Open Source less popular than Free Software)

[Asheesh Laroia]

On Wed, 26 Sep 2007, Jesse Zbikowski wrote:

> On 9/26/07, Asheesh Laroia <asheesh at asheesh.org> wrote:
>> But I can almost
>> believably measure the size of the Free Software idea/community vs. the
>> Open Source idea/community.
>
> By the number of different licenses?  No, no you can't, not even almost.
>
> Both the FSF and OSI have stated goals of reducing license
> proliferation.

<seriously>

OSI does: http://www.opensource.org/proliferation-report

FSF does not, as far as I know.  Whenever I've seen him asked about this, 
Stallman doesn't say this is a problem.  FSF Europe wrote this 
http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT7188273245.html , but I don't know 
of any notes on the main FSF or GNU sites that indicate that they think 
license proliferation is bad.

</seriously>

So maybe that's what I really "discovered". (-;

I also like the line that what else I discovered is that FSF staff have 
nothing better to do than approve licenses.

> Maybe you would be better off asking a random group of people if they
> identify with "free software" or "open source".

>> So in community size, I stand by the original flamebait in the Subject 
>> line: that Open Source is a smaller phenomenon than Free Software.
>
> You have shown zero basis for this statement.

If you count the organizations making licenses, then it's at least true to 
say that more organizations use licenses that are exclusively Free 
Software rather than ones that are exclusively Open Source.

You're right, of course, above - it would be more interesting to look at 
users of the most-used licenses and ask them, "Which do you identify 
with?"

-- Asheesh.

--
Money doesn't talk, it swears.
 		-- Bob Dylan