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February 28, 2006
Free as in beer
Free as in beer: I was always a bit confused by that phrase, when trotted out in the middle of a conversation to mean something -- I always had to translate it as "let's see, they contrast that with 'free speech', so which one do they think is unfettered by any contract and which do they think is no-cost again -- beer has no contract, but then again maybe they meant someone buying you a beer, or maybe it was 'no such thing as a free lunch' kind of thing", and by that point the conversation was already two paragraphs further in and I was 'way behind. ;-) Anyway, guess I wasn't the only one to not see that label as intuitive... here a group of students in Copenhagen give away the recipe for the beer they market. I guess that means you can change the recipe and brew it yourself differently, but hold it, you could always add a shot to make it a boilermaker or blend it with another beer to make a black-and-tan, so maybe they mean "free as in speech" with this, or... oh, no, there I go again.... ;-)
Posted by John Dowdell at February 28, 2006 03:49 PM
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I've blogged in the past how pithy sayings are used to hide what's really going on. The open source movement loves to throw that free beer/speech thing all the time but try to get them to explain what it really means or why we should care and you've got a fight on your hands. Either that or they'll look at you like your a simpleton.
Posted by: Michael Dinowitz at February 28, 2006 04:28 PM
I always assumed "Free as in Beer" meant that if you saw/ran into the person who created what you're using, you needed to buy them a beer.
Posted by: Ryan Stewart at February 28, 2006 04:51 PM
Wow. I've always been confused by that saying as well, but based on JD's post, it appears trying to get to the bottom of it breaks one's brain. Perhaps some things mankind just wasn't meant to know...
-MB
Posted by: Mark Belanger at February 28, 2006 04:52 PM
for some reason, I always thought that was a Simpsons-related joke that i never got, like that was an episode i missed or something.
Posted by: flashape at February 28, 2006 04:56 PM
KEG PARTY!!!
I couldn't figure out "Free as in beer" either ... so I consulted wikipedia ... weirdly it is filed under the heading "Gratis versus Libre", although the url is Free_as_in_beer, i.e.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_as_in_beer
Since what is on wikipedia may be gone tomorrow, I am quoting the key segment below.
Simply put, when you hear "Free as in beer" think "KEG PARTY!!" ... (umm, keg party with no cover charge)
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
In hacker slang, another common term for gratis is free as in beer. Free as in beer refers to things which are available at no monetary cost (like free beer at a party). It can be contrasted with the expressions free as in speech, free as in freedom, or free as in rights, which refer to something which is free of restrictions, as in the freedom of speech.
Posted by: G Hamer at February 28, 2006 05:04 PM
http://www.gnu.org define it when talking about the cost of something:
'"Free software" is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of "free" as in "free speech," not as in "free beer."'
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
cheers,
Fraser
Posted by: Fraser at February 28, 2006 05:07 PM
It was always pretty clear to me.
Free as in beer: you don't have to pay for it. i.e. The Flash player.
Free as in free speach: you are free to do what you want with it. i.e. MTASC.
I guess it would be better to say "free as in free beer". In general beer isn't free, so I guess that causes some confusion.
[jd sez: ouch! and I almost had it there! ;-) ]
Posted by: Keith Peters at February 28, 2006 05:10 PM
doh! Now I'm out of beer. Think I'll do some programming.
Posted by: Brandon at February 28, 2006 05:55 PM
Simply put, when you hear "Free as in beer" think "KEG PARTY!!"That's funny. When i think of "KEG PARTY!!" i think of a lot of people you don't know showing up and leeching all the beer they can before running off without even a thank you. ;-)
Posted by: g.wygonik at March 1, 2006 07:42 AM
I always thought it meant as in "free but someone else is paying for it so be considerate and say thanks" (beer) as opposed to "cost nobody anything" (speech).
Posted by: Dave Child at September 28, 2006 09:24 AM