Free in speech, free in beer???

[rick420]

I see that all the time, what exactly does it mean though??

[cloverm]

Free in beer means that you don't have to pay for it.
Free in speech means that you can do whatever you want to do with it.

Free speech is good for you, free beer really isn't

[cloverm]

Free speech is good for you, free beer really isn't

I have to argue with this statement. Free beer IS good. ;D

I have to argue with this statement. Free beer IS good. ;D

As I have tried to test this statement I must say that the goodness of free beer largely depends for the amount of free beer which is consumed

[YaRness]

i had free bud (lite? regular? dunno, but it was beer in a can ) on a bus ride to a football game, and it was NOT good.

Software you can get for free is a Good Thing. A very good thing indeed. Free Speech is good too, but in a buisness, free beer is the most important criteria

[Feztaa]

I see that all the time, what exactly does it mean though??

Think it through a bit. Why would beer be free? Because it's crappy and nobody will buy it. Why would speech be free? Because censorship is bad, and freedom of speech is one of your natural rights.

So when they say something is "free as in beer", it means that it costs nothing because nobody would buy it, but if they say "free as in speech", it means that the source code is open, and you can modify it if you wish.

Basically, free as in beer talks about price. Free as in speech talks about liberty.

[YaRness]

Think it through a bit. Why would beer be free? Because it's crappy and nobody will buy it. Why would speech be free? Because censorship is bad, and freedom of speech is one of your natural rights.

So when they say something is "free as in beer", it means that it costs nothing because nobody would buy it

wtf?

i think you need a beer. or 6. but the rest of yer post was right. "free as in beer" just refers to not paying for something.

[Feztaa]

I'm not talking about all beer, I'm talking about free beer. If the beer was good, they'd make you pay for it. They can't sell it, because it's bad beer, so they have to give it away.