[pp.int.general] Why Free Software misses the point

[Richard Stallman]

    It has always annoyed me a bit that FSF seems so much in opposition to
    open source.

Perhaps it seems this way more than it is.  Most of what open source
says is about development methodology, and we don't argue with that.
It is only the philosophical values of open source that we disagree
with.

Since we think level of values is the most important level, we mention
this disagreement often.  This is necessary so people don't forget us
and think that we are open source supporters.  But it is only a
partial disagreement.

		 All open source software protects at least some of the four
    freedoms of free software,

Nearly all open source programs are free programs.

    But even pragmatics should be
    better endorsed by FSF to the extent that the licenses are in line with
    the philosophy of FSF.

We already do this.  What we say about those programs is that they are
free software and thus basically ok.

There are a few open source programs which are not free, and we say
they are not acceptable.  But those exceptions are rare.  Much more
common are programs which are called "open source" in a loose way, but
don't really qualify for that label or for "free software".