To: letters@lwn.net
Subject: Correction: "Free" AnyJ
From: Peter Moulder <reiter@netspace.net.au>
Date: 30 Jul 1999 00:50:11 +1000

[Not intended for publication; though I've no objection to its publication.]

In http://lwn.net/1999/0729/devel.phtml, you write "The usual answer
has been emacs or xemacs with jde.  One other free alternative,
though, is AnyJ".

I don't know whether you were aware, but AnyJ is not free in the "free 
software" sense, the sense that would usually be associated with emacs.  
From the AnyJ download page:

       LINUX (FREE, but not redistributable)
                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

i.e. gratis but not "free" in the Linux sense.

With free (Open Source) software, I know that it will always be
supported, or at least that it is always possible for anyone to fix
bugs and distribute fixed versions.  With proprietory software like
AnyJ, I can use the version that they're currently distributing, but 
I don't even know whether they'll release version 1.0 gratis, and I 
certainly don't know whether the company will still be around for 
version 2; if they're not, the software loses its value, and I'll 
have wasted time in dead-end software.

For reasons such as the above (and others, depending on how much
freedom is granted, e.g. whether or not source code is available for
compilation on non-x86 machines), it would be helpful to many of your
readers if you can distinguish between gratis and libre wherever you
do know that a piece of software is not  free in something like the
Open Source or FSF sense.

Thanks for considering this in future,

pjm.