Talk:free software
Latest comment: 6 years ago by Tk Troll in topic Agree
The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for cleanup.
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Another user wrote "nothing about this article conforms to Wiktionary standards" --Jackofclubs 10:40, 11 October 2008 (UTC)
- For a start it should never have had an entry anyway... This is nothing more than free software. Conrad.Irwin 11:16, 11 October 2008 (UTC)
- free software would just mean "without having to pay" (free beer), but there is a big difference to w:Free software as in the w:Free software movement. Also see w:Free beer & w:Gratis versus Libre. Mutante 07:19, 15 October 2008 (UTC)
- This has been cleaned up. --Volants 13:51, 3 February 2010 (UTC)
The following information passed a request for deletion.
This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.
Per above, seems to be software which is free. Of course free has more than one meaning, which is precisely why we document such usage at free#English. Mglovesfun (talk) 11:32, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
- If free software is deleted, all its antonyms and translations should also be deleted. Otherwise, all of them should remain. --Sae1962 (talk) 12:32, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
- I disagree, it's not wrong to make a decision on individual entries based on their merits. Mglovesfun (talk) 17:03, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
- Happy? --WikiTiki89 12:41, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
- Keep. I believe it's pretty much a set term. Matthias Buchmeier (talk) 13:13, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
- Strong keep. This is a stereotypical example of a SoP term with parts so ambiguous that it is commonly misunderstood. Free as in free software is rarely or never used as a predicate; people do not usually say "Linux is free" unless they mean it costs nothing. They say "Linux is free software". It seems like a set term; free only seems to have this meaning when combined with software, not usually otherwise. Beside that, I also don't think that the definitions we have at free quite cover it. Free software does not necessarily have few limitations; copyleft is quite a strong limitation. —CodeCat 13:33, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
- That problem with that argument is that free software could just as easily mean any of those other combinations. What makes this one special? --WikiTiki89 13:40, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
- It could mean any of those combinations, but there is only one (or two) that it actually does mean (i.e. is intended to mean by the speaker). The misunderstanding arises because context is not enough to distinguish the meanings of free in this case: the meaning most people intuitively understand it to mean (software that costs nothing) is not what speakers intend it to mean. Therefore, free software has to be understood idiomatically. —CodeCat 13:58, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
- I think the word software is enough to put you in the context of software (see the last definition of free). Also, it is true that in many cases you can't tell whether it means free of charge or free to do with as you please. This is because free software is ambiguous and not because there is a specific meaning that it has that you can only identify if you know the idiom. --WikiTiki89 14:32, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
- It could mean any of those combinations, but there is only one (or two) that it actually does mean (i.e. is intended to mean by the speaker). The misunderstanding arises because context is not enough to distinguish the meanings of free in this case: the meaning most people intuitively understand it to mean (software that costs nothing) is not what speakers intend it to mean. Therefore, free software has to be understood idiomatically. —CodeCat 13:58, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
- That problem with that argument is that free software could just as easily mean any of those other combinations. What makes this one special? --WikiTiki89 13:40, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
- Keep per Talk:free variable. The sense of "free" under discussion is exactly the one resulting from the phrase "free software"; it is one dedicated to "software". --Dan Polansky (talk) 19:30, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
- Keep: This is a notion and should remain with its antonyms, translations, etc. as an entry. --Sae1962 (talk) 08:40, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
- Do we have a policy on notions? I seem to find them very encyclopedic. --WikiTiki89 09:35, 21 October 2012 (UTC)
- Keep. Have been convinced by arguments above, and a quick look at the Wikipedia article. Ƿidsiþ 12:09, 22 October 2012 (UTC)
- Keep I'm thinking per empty space then? DAVilla 05:11, 4 November 2012 (UTC)
- Kept all. —RuakhTALK 05:27, 2 February 2013 (UTC)
Agree
[edit]Agree Tk Troll (talk) 10:02, 31 January 2018 (UTC)