I’m a Mac user. I’m a PC user. I’m not a Linux user, but I aspire to be so one day. Linux is an ‘open source’ software. This means that the public has access to the linux code, enabling those savvy enough to modify, add, or subtract to the operating system.
The term freeware comes in to play when talking about linux. Freeware is a term that contains two entities: free as in no monetary cost (usually described as ‘free as in free beer’) and free as in there are no restrictions for the software’s use.
This idea is great, and many computer geeks like me hope that someday all software will be freeware. But freeware doesn’t have to stop at software. Free as in ‘free beer’ could mean just that.
Carlsberg beer, a Danish brewer, has decided to make its beer recipe ‘open source’. This means that they’ll just give away the recipe. People can make, modify, and resell the beer. As long as the original recipe is credited, then everything is all-to-the-good. More things should be open source, and that’s where the Technology University in Copenhagen and Carlsberg are trying to go with this joint beer venture. Something about software and alcohol get me excited that tomorrow is the weekend!
Funny enough I myself was writing a post about this at the exact moment Feeling Entropy was. Great minds I guess. Actually I wrote a story about this in Wired about 2 weeks ago, but have been camping in Big Bear since. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,68144,00.html
I guess the “free” in open source software really can mean “free beer.”