"Free Software" & "Open Source"

[ghost]

You probably are aware of the tension between "open source" and "free software".

Does the Open Source Design collective underline "Open Source" in its name and logo because it clearly is taking a side on that matter?

This Rivalness of Mindshare is of interest in particular to me, as I am committed to the free software movement and its values:

“Free” and “open” are rivals for mindshare. “Free software” and “open source” are different ideas but, in most people's way of looking at software, they compete for the same conceptual slot. When people become habituated to saying and thinking “open source,” that is an obstacle to their grasping the free software movement's philosophy and thinking about it. If they have already come to associate us and our software with the word “open,” we may need to shock them intellectually before they recognize that we stand for something else. Any activity that promotes the word “open” tends to extend the curtain that hides the ideas of the free software movement.

[ryangorley]

I can't speak for the organizers' original intent, but I don't get the impression anyone here is confused about the difference.

I think it is inescapable that people will confuse the meaning of free in "free software", just as they would if we called this "free design" or "free software design".

[ghost]

@ryangorley I do expect people to be generally aware in here, and I agree that confusion for the broader audience is inescapable.

It is that "inescapability" of confusion that makes it even more important to use the right label ("Open Source" | "FOSS" | "Free Software"). Hence my interest on so strongly embracing "open source".

[ryangorley]

I may not understand your position fully. Are you suggesting the term "open source" should be used in this instance, or are you proposing something different?

[ghost]

Personally I'm interested in "Free Software" and would love to join a designer collective that aligns with those values. Ideally with that very label of course. If I was proposing anything it would probably be to use the more neutral term "FLOSS" that is inclusive towards both movements.

This is why I'm interested in why the collective has the strong focus on "open source".

[ryangorley]

Again, I have no official capacity so I cannot speak to any prior decisions. While I personally ascribe to the ideals of Free Software, it has branding issues (in the English speaking world at least). As Richard Stallman is apt to point out, "free" in English is ambiguous so no one knows what we mean. Libre is not English, and no one can decide on how to even pronounce it. FLOSS is almost as unfortunate an acronym as GIMP (at least the FOSS acronym doesn't make me think of dental hygiene). These are all problems with the general adoption of one or the other phrase and until someone can come up with a better way to brand the movement, open source is going to continue to be used more.

I think there is a good case to be made that "open source" is a big-tent phrase that covers a lot of ideologies that motivate people to collaborate together and share their work. Inclusiveness is perhaps most appropriate for a group like this. You may be Catholic and I Lutheran, but we can join together in a Christian cause, so to speak.

Just my $0.02.

[elioqoshi]

@ryangorley summarized my thoughts really well. Completely my stance on it, yes. So much yes.

[ghost]

@ryangorley I certainly agree to most of what you say, too. The one point I'm trying to raise is missing in your example though: You may be Catholic and I Lutheran, but we can join together in a Christian cause... ... unfortunately "Catholic" & "Christian" are hapless names so we call it the "Lutheran" cause.

The example above shows there is no issue with the collective promoting the value of freedom (like free software). It starts getting odd when using that name but promoting ideals of free software at the same time.

As a designer I see great responsibility in consciously choosing names and logos, borrowing heavily from the OSI needs to reflect an actual strong tie. Otherwise it would appear to be a strong accidental statement.

[bnvk]

@mray all the core founders understand the difference between "open source" and "free software" and I think most in the community do too. AFAIK, we have never discussed this as an issue.

Our community is diverse in ages, cultures, and interests and we operate under the motto: if you have a creative idea or something you want "bring to the table" do it. With that in spirit, in our earliest organizing we started using our current name and it stuck. The reasons I felt good about this instinctual choice (as opposed to something FLOSS related) are:

1. The Free beer / freedom confusion
2. Free software is older and has a specific community, culture, and goals
3. Open source (software) is newer and has more vague goals
4. Acronyms (FOSS, FLOSS) are not user friendly
5. Spelling out said acronyms is also not designer / user friendly
6. Open source has done a better job at outreach and broad public understanding
7. Open source as a concept extends beyond software, yet can overlap with design

As per point 7, checkout out the "LibreFlip" project, an open source (hardware?) book scanner which posted a design job on OSD:

http://opensourcedesign.net/jobs/jobs/2016-11-28-Logo-for-Libreflip

If we were the "Free Software Design" community, it would be feel a bit off to allow posting about a hardware project.

Personally, I care a tremendous amount about making free software more user friendly and it having better design in general. This is precisely a reason I cared about getting a job board created and recently wrote a grant proposal to further this goal.

All that said, i'm going to close this issue as I don't think there is much confusion or concern about changing out name at present. However, I (we) definitely welcome your specific goals to OSD :)

[simonv3]

I also want to point out the issue with OSI is being discussed in our monthly calls.

[ghost]

@bnvk thank you very much for this clarification. @simonv3 thanks for pointing this out.