this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2024
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That future isn't possible, because despite all you people lying to claim otherwise, there has never been any point where software exists and "free software" was not regularly used to refer to software that did not cost money, regardless of license. Every single App Store out there uses "free" to refer to propriety software today, because it's free.
Free software has multiple established meanings. There's a reason many are conceding their war on the English language and starting to refer to such software as "libre", not "free", and it's because there has never been any point where they actually dominated the term "free software" like they're lying and telling you they did.
“Free” as an adjective isn’t the issue. The issue is the phrase “free software” being used to refer to things other than free software. And afaict, no app store uses the term ”free software” to refer to non-free software.
The iOS App Store refers to “Free Apps.”
Google Play doesn’t call it “Free Software,” either; they just use it as a category / filter, e.g., “Top Free.”
Your conclusion is incorrect - this is because when used outside of the phrase “free software,” the word is ambiguous. “Software that is free” could mean gratis, libre, or both.