Hello,

This thread is very interesting and it seems that a new discourse is developed by FSFE representatives, that is not so much shared by many people on this list.

Subject:
Re: Free software and open source philosophies differ, sometimes with radically different outcomes
From:
Heiki Lõhmus <repentinus@fsfe.org>
Date:
11/21/2017 06:55 PM
To:
discussion@lists.fsfe.org
 My preferred term is Free Software because I believe
individual freedom to be the highest political goal or utility and Free
Software safeguards every individual's freedom and control over their
devices.

As antecedently said in many posts, it clearly appears that to preserve individual freedom we should actively build a different social organization since the one we are in now is clearly based of restraining individual freedom by surveillance and exploitation (of human and natural resources). Of course I understand individual freedom as the freedom of every individual on the planet not only the richest, but I know this is not a widely shared view of individual freedom.


I have no communitarian leanings beyond recognizing that
cooperating in communities is a valid exercise of any individual's
freedom of association,

Well this is quite sad to hear from someone who is is vice president of an important community based structure acting for free software.

and I am decidedly pro-business as a valid
exercise of individual freedom too.

Business as individual freedom, this is interesting viewpoint, it seems like a very politically oriented assertion and certainly pro-capitalist. Can you be a bit more precise please, as far as I know there are many type of businesses and a very unequal spectrum where big corporations develop extensive amounts of power while individuals or smaller organizations struggle to get important projects out.
While I prefer the term Free Software, I also recognize that in the
vast majority of cases contributions from people whose preferred term is
Open Source also lead to increased individual choice and control over
their device.

Well the issue here is not only from person to person, indeed what one person uses as a terminology does not really matter, nor does it allow to under-evaluate that persons contribution, however the term open source has been consciously differentiated in order to fulfill the needs of capitalists, resulting in many projects led by monopolistic corporations that certainly do not serve individual freedom. First obvious example,  the use that is made of android, or so many other things...
This is true of contributions from large corporations too,
and where any particular user disagrees with the corporation's
direction, they are free to fork the project.

Seems easy indeed ... but you do not seem to acknowledge that large corporations have an infrastructure and revenues that others don't have.
Android was forked its a one man's project running on a negligible number of devices , its obviously impossible to compete.
Following the "winners takes it all " scheme, or "first come first served" (or other great assertions) major corporations embedded in the financial capitalism, have developed without direct competition, which makes it impossible for others to exist alongside their massive businesses fed by data brokerage, and many more nasty stuff.
Less complaining and more
use of the four freedoms would be entirely appropriate in such cases.
Which cases?