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>Is GNOME Open Source(tm) Software?</A
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><P
>The short answer is yes.  The GPL and LGPL used for GNOME
      are explicitly listed as examples for the "Open Source"
      definition.  However, we try to avoid using the term Open Source
      to describe GNOME, since not only does the term deliberately
      hide the freedom inherent in Free Software, but the term is
      being used for software which is not Free.</P
><P
>The term was developed to try to bring Free Software to
      businesses who didn't want to hear about Freedom.  Personally, I
      have found that most businesses like to hear about freedom.  The
      freedom to customize their software to their needs, the freedom
      to change software developers without changing their software,
      the freedom to give copies of their software to their clients
      and subcontractors, these are all freedoms that Free Software
      offers, and proprietary software usually doesn't, that make
      <I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>good business sense</I
>.  For more on the
      distinction between Open Source and Free Software, see the
      article by Richard M. Stallman at <A
HREF="http://gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html"
TARGET="_top"
>      http://gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html</A
>.</P
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