Free Software and Open Source

Another way to misunderstand Free and Open Source movements is to confuse the differences between them. For many lay people and journalists, the terms "open source" and "free" software are interchangeable. This is a mistake. One is a political movement and the other is a development model.

The free software movement is a social and political movement. The mission and purpose for this existance is to promote the freedom and cooperation that is an essential part of a free and moral society. Freedom and cooperation cannot occur when people choose to accept proprietary software. This occurs because the masters over the proprietary software require users to promise to remain helpless and divided. The users often accept (and equally as often break) these promises of helplessness and division.

The Open Source initiative is a software development model. This initiative was intended as a way of improving the efficiency of software development, thereby allowing users to benefit from powerful software earlier than would otherwise occur. It is said that this initiative was inspired by the free software movement.

While both exist in opposition to corporate behemoths, their ends and means are often in conflict. 'Open-source [partisans] never suggest that there's anything unethical about proprietary software,' says Stallman. 'They just don't want to rock that boat.' Instead, they 'want to convince businesses to adopt free software, and they figure that, if they raise any kind of ethical question, that it will be off-putting to businessmen.'
- http://thephoenix.com/Portland/News/94550-Tilting-at-Windows/?page=3