Free vs. No Cost

[Scott]

Well, beer costs money to make one way or another.  So a free beer is 
only going to taste good if it's chilled.  In order to maintain that 
level of coolness, the proper precautions must be met in order to 
deliver that beer to the counter.

Anyone is free to say anything they want, regardless of the 
consequences.  Once people start figuring out that some people get upset 
(and justifiably at that!) at certain speech, they begin to alter the 
way they speak in an effort to keep that speech free separated from 
harassment. 

Certainly, there is no cost to the end user of a free beer.  Simply 
consume and enjoy.  Cheering about it would constitute free speech, 
indeed.  For free speech, there is no price.

No cost. (beer)
No price. (speech)

The difference?  According to Webster's dictionary, 'price' refers to 
the value or worth of something.  'Cost' refers to the expense or 
penalty that it takes to produce something.

This seems rather like an analogy to source code and compiled binaries.

There are the basic building blocks of the word 'Free', as used with the 
term "Free Software", as I have interpreted them.  Of course, that's 
just my interpretation, and as such is open to scrutiny, argument and 
debate.

-Scott

der.hans wrote:
> Am 20. Mar, 2007 schwätzte Darrin Chandler so:
>
>> On Tue, Mar 20, 2007 at 06:01:30PM -0700, der.hans wrote:
>>> Does using no cost help differentiate the no cost definition from the
>>> unfettered and freedom definitions of free?
>>
>> When you say 'free' to the typical American it already means 'no cost.'
>> When you talk to FOSS people and say 'no cost' it's probably obvious
>> that you mean "as in beer."
>>
>> It's the "Free as in Freedom" term that's trouble getting across by
>> saying 'free.' And 'libre' just doesn't fit into normal conversation
>> well.
>
> Not in english. Unfettered doesn't fill the normal vocabulary bill 
> either.
>
> I'm trying to emphasize Free as in Freedom whenever I say Free Software,
> therefore I want another phrase for no cost when I talk about free as in
> beer.
>
> ciao,
>
> der.hans
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