Beware of free software, always use Free Software

For decades now the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement has tried to educate users, companies, and everyone else about the benefits of its license model. Even in 2023 software architects, CTOs, and management is unable to understand the difference between free software and Free Software. We also intentionally avoid the term "Open Source", because it can be and has been hijacked by its opponents. Free Software with a capital "F" is easy to describe. It guarentees you the fundamental four freedoms describe in the article "What is Free Software?". You can runs the code, study it, redistribute it, and improve it. That's not really hard to understand. Nevertheless, some companies toy with beneficial acts, which have nothing to do with Free Software.

For example, Oracle® now offer its Java™ run-time GraalVM for free. This may sound good, but Oracle®'s "free" term doesn't give you the benefits offered by Free Software. Once you turn your code into a product, you run into license problems. So GraalVM is not free. It is a vehicle to work for Oracle® without getting paid. Instead, you have to pay to run your code, eventually. From a business perspective this is a not calculable risk. How will I know when and if my code is ready for production? Maybe the code is a part of another application. Do I need to license GraalVM? The worst case is the licensing per core or processor die. Efficient code should use all of the available resources. There should be no artificial barrier such as a license.

Free Software offers a solid foundation to build your application on. The Debian operating system provides a stable plattform for production and testing stages. You can run your whole infrastructure on it, even the workstations. The sky is the limit. Leave the walled gardens to the dinosaurs.

• Closed platform