free as in kittens

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Finally, a name for my site!

Posted January 31st, 2011 by eric

For the past 9 years, I've used eric.openflows as my site's name. Initially at eric.openflows.org, and then at eric.openflows.com.

I've struggled with the issue of registering a domain for my site, I've come up with so many good ideas and even more bad ideas.

Finally, I've made a decision and done it. Welcome to FreeAsInKittens.com.

When doing presentations about the history and nature of Open Source/Free Software, I tend to put a certain amount of focus on the meaning of Free. The old saying is Free as in Speech, Not as in Beer. Even though Free Software is most often also free as in beer, the word Free is used to denote Rights, not cost. Free Software protects the rights both of the creator and end-user.

It's easy to lose sight of the reality that even though it is Free as in beer; even though you don't pay a license fee, that you will still need to spend money or time to get the most out of Free Software.

It's better to look at it as a change from software as a commodity, where who owns the tool's source code is the primary point of control, to Software as a tool, where who control is secondary to contribution. As I said to the New York Times in March 2009: "We’re throwing out the idea of software as a commodity and replacing it with the idea of labor and participation being valued more than ownership."

Given that this way of doing things is rather alien to free market capitalism, it's important to make sure people understand the reality of the situation. To give people a way of better understanding it, I've been using the phrase "Free as in Kittens": you can have the kitten for free, but you need to care for it, take it to the vet and clean out its litter box.

Even though I am not the one that coined this phrase, I've sort of grown attached to it over time. But, I want to give credit where it is due: the phrase came to my attention when I read an article and a blog post by a librarian, Karen Schneider, where she discussed Open Source/Free Software and compared Free Software to kittens, she got it from someone else but I don't know who.

Today's photos: