I’ve been an open source advocate, devotee, user, and developer for many years. I’m a member of the Free Software Foundation (FSF). I frequently write about the Open Web, Social Web, and Open Source of all types (software, hardware, science, data, Web standards).
Much of my recent work has been licensed under the GPL. The GPL is administered and promulgated by the FSF. Apparently what is now considered the open source movement, actually was the result of a schism from the free software movement. In other words, open source was spawned out of the free software movement, not the other way around.
To some, there are philosophical differences between the two movements. They can best be summed up as follows: all free software is open source but not all open source software is free (although much of it is). You can learn more about the subtleties of this argument in this article on the GNU website, Why Open Source misses the point of Free Software. (more…)