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Radical groups in the 1960s developed a reputation for factionalism: organizations split because of disagreements on details of strategy, and then treated each other as enemies. Or at least, such is the image people have of them, whether or not it was true. The relationship between the Free Software movement and the Open Source movement is just the opposite of that picture. We disagree on the basic principles, but agree more or less on the practical recommendations. So we can and do work together on many specific projects. 'We don't think of the Open Source movement as an enemy. The enemy is proprietary software.

Richard M. Stallman#50

More from Richard M. Stallman

  1. In 1998, some of the people in the free software community began using the term 'open source software' instead of 'free software' to describe what they do. The…

    Permalink to quote #49
  2. We are not against the Open Source movement, but we don't want to be lumped in with them. We acknowledge that they have contributed to our community, but we cr…

    Permalink to quote #51
  3. While free software by any other name would give you the same freedom, it makes a big difference which name we use: different words convey different ideas.

    Permalink to quote #48