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Is the term libre as in "libre software" understood in English ?

#FreeSoftware #askFedi #OpenSource #FLOSS #FOSS

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to Sonny

It is to me, but that might just be because I am familiar with the FOSS space.

I'm also learning Latin, so there might be an unfair advantage lol. :blobcat3c:

in reply to Sonny

As a French person I am not in the best position to answer, but I thought so because of LibreOffice.
in reply to Sonny

I’d say frequently not. When I use it, I usually have to follow up by explaining the “free and libre” philosophy on OSS. They usually recognize the philosophy but not the name.
in reply to Sonny

it is understood less often than "free software" but also misunderstood far less often. "Open source" is widely understood, if sometimes misused.
in reply to Sonny

I do not understand it, I just thought it sounded swish and professional.
in reply to Sonny

"Free Software" is ambiguous
"Open Source" is not enough

Both terms also carry negative history.

I noticed "libre" is becoming more common and is well understood in several languages.

Maybe it's time for a renaissance with #LibreSoftware

#SoftwareLibre #LogicielLibre #OpenSource #FreeSoftware #FLOSS #foss #OpenSource #FreeSoftware

in reply to Sonny

I think most people will be able to recognize it through LibreOffice/OpenOffice, at least in the European context. "Open Source" also makes most people I know think of OSINT, not OSS, but I guess that depends on the group of people we're talking about ^^
in reply to Sonny

For whatever it's worth, here in the USA I'm more used to hearing "libre" discussed with the phrase "free as in speech". It's often contrasted to "gratis", which is discussed with the phrase "free as in beer."

I think "libre"/"gratis" is a very useful distinction and that we should use this more precise set of terms!

But at least here in the US, many people hearing those terms will probably need help recognizing which term means which idea.

in reply to Sonny

I like "community-driven", but it's a bit wordy.
in reply to Sonny

It’s a lot easier in languages where the terms for «free» and «gratis» haven’t converged. Maybe we should just deprecate English as our lingua franca and move on to a more sensible one 😂
in reply to Sonny

We should just go with Hungarian here, that's understood by less people than Latin, but at least "Szabad Szoftver" sounds good.

#FreeSoftware

in reply to Sonny

I'd say so! I use the term all the time. The term 'free' software is too confusing to people.
Unknown parent

Sonny
@engarneering "Libre" is already somewhat established. What's wrong with it?
Unknown parent

Aaron A Brown 🌱
nonprescriptive software? Yuck.
in reply to Sonny

I follow it (same root as liberty), but I'm not sure that Mastodon (and people following a Gnome developer in particular) is going to give you a representative sample...
in reply to Sonny

Generally, no. "Libre" is not a common word in English and when it is, it is more often colloquially used in the sense of careless, carefree, promiscuous, etc.

Rel. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/libertine

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to Sonny

generally yes. I've adopted it myself - see https://tech.oeru.org/foss-libresoftware-its-about-clarity-and-values
in reply to Sonny

I personally am familiar with the terms "libre" and "gratis" as applied to software, so I imagine there's a community of Anglophones for whom these terms are in currency, but for most people you'd have explain what you meant.
in reply to Sonny

It sounds like a fork of "open software" to me and and the project named "software" is a bad idea to begin with 😉

I'm not sure another term will make things clearer / easier here, once it comes to specifics I'd go for Apache/MIT/GPL/etc-licensed.

in reply to Sonny

yes. Mostly because of projects like LibreOffice