On Tue, 2011-03-15 at 11:13 +0100, Matthias Kirschner wrote:
- Sam Liddicott sam@liddicott.com [2011-03-15 09:56:40 -0000]:
Maybe "commercial software" is software where the rights of use and conveyance for the recipient must be negotiated with respect to commercial considerations (transfer of value in return).
What commercial considerations should prevent the freedom to use and share?
Maybe someone should define what 'commercial' means in the context of software, and then you can check each case that matches.
But the problem of using the terms 'commercial software' is not in it's definition but in the fact that, when used as antonym for 'free software' it gives the idea that you cannot do commerce (ie make money) with free software.
This is certainly wrong, therefore from a free software activist point of view, using the term commercial software to identify proprietary software is counterproductive, as it puts the person you are talking to in the wrong state of mind with regard to the perception of free software as a valuable commercial tool.
Simo.