The Modernization of Emacs: terminology buffer and keybinding

[Steve Holden]

lhb at nowhere.com wrote:
> Wildemar Wildenburger <lasses_weil at klapptsowieso.net> wrote in 
> news:47016899$0$4524$9b4e6d93 at newsspool3.arcor-online.net:
> 
>> While I agree that the word "free" implies "free of monetary cost" to 
>> many people societies, that is by no means set in stone (talk to native 
>> americans, blacks, jews, palestinians, etc. about the word free, see 
>> what they have to say).
> 
> Words are defined by popular usage.  In popular usage, the meaning of free 
> as an adjective depends on the context.  If the adjective is applied to 
> people, it means the opposite of slavery or imprisonment.  If it's applied 
> to something other than people, it means free as in beer.
> 
> For example, a dog with no owner, wandering freely (adverb), would not be 
> called a free dog (adjective), to mean possessing freedom.  Free dog means 
> free as in beer.  Likewise, in popular usage, free software means free as 
> in beer.  People who use it with a different meaning are vainly trying to 
> change its meaning.  But the meanings of words can't be arbitrarily 
> changed, just by dictating different meanings.  The meaning has to be 
> adopted by popular usage, which free-as-in-GPL software has not been.
> 
> Therefore, I propose, using dog freedom as our logic, we call it stray 
> software.

But that sounds like software that may once have had a good home, but 
then one day a pack of stray software came into town and called to its 
wild side, so it left the PC of its birth ... you get the idea. 
Interestingly, this issue does ultimately hinge on ideas of "property" 
and "ownership". Amazon (or their lawyers and marketing department 
together) would like you to believe that "the idea of being able to 
order a product with a single click" is protectable intellectual 
property, but ultimately it will be agreed, I predict, that such claims 
will fail on the grounds of obviousness of invention. though in a 
country where they regularly show fifth graders to be smarter than 
adults on network TV one can never be sure.

A tide is turning in the world of IP, but only just, and so the ebb is 
hardly yet underway.

regards
  Steve
-- 
Steve Holden        +1 571 484 6266   +1 800 494 3119
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Sorry, the dog ate my .sigline so I couldn't cat it