wingologA mostly dorky weblog by Andy Wingo2011-01-17T15:45:33Ztekutihttps://wingolog.org/feed/atomAndy Wingohttps://wingolog.org/"free as in beer"?https://wingolog.org/2011/01/17/free-as-in-beer2011-01-17T15:45:33Z2011-01-17T15:45:33Z

The phrase "free as in beer" makes no sense. It never did.

"Free as in free beer" only makes marginally more sense. I've been hearing it for years, and my mind seems to skip over the "free" and concentrate on the "beer", and beer is a good thing, right? (Though to be honest, the Free Software world's beer fixation is not one of its healthier characteristics.)

Furthermore, the existence of Free Beer, while delicious, does nothing to clarify matters, even in the presence of Irish Moss.

"Free beer" might have been amusing coming from RMS, but it's not useful. Let's leave "free beer" to the brewers, and stop using it for its explanatory power.