Phrases and sayings....
Forum: water cooler
Topic: Phrases and sayings....
started by: newOldUser
Posted by newOldUser on April 11 2006,11:09
Been thinking about this since I read Roberts say "I eat my own dog food" in one of his posts (I'm waiting for the tee shirts with his picture and that caption to go on sale..). What does "eat my own dog food" really mean and where did it come from?Another one that I see a lot on Linux websites is "Free, as in beer". Does that mean it's not free? It is free?
Posted by doobit on April 11 2006,12:40
"Free, as in beer." means that it costs somebody something, but they are willing to share it for nothing, and you can do whatever you want with it. It's not free of cost, but free of restrictions.
Posted by pr0f3550r on April 11 2006,12:47
Eat my dog food= use my own programs, also sometimes = not willing to share feedback with strangers.Alternatively, too lazy to go shopping , hungry enough to litteraly eat your dog food
Posted by cbagger01 on April 11 2006,16:54
See the wikipedia for more information on the subject:< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software >
The word "free" can have multiple meanings.
For example, "free" can mean "freedom" in the sense that you have approval to say or do anything that you want to say or do.
Or "free" can mean "free of charge", where you do not need to pay a purchase price to aquire an object or service.
Free "freedom" and free "free of charge" are different concepts.
For example, Microsoft may give you a "free of charge" copy of an Internet Explorer install disk, but they maintain control of the software through a very restrictive "End User License Agreement" that prevents you from doing certain things to the software product.
Posted by cbagger01 on April 11 2006,16:55
While we're at it, how about the dog food reference. I love wikipedia:< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_one%27s_own_dog_food >
Posted by doobit on April 11 2006,17:22
In Jamaica they have a saying like that - "Dog gwin eat ya suppa!" Which is a sort of curse for people that don't do what they should do when given a choice between right and wrong.
Posted by dare2dreamer on April 12 2006,00:07
A friend of mine who is trapped deep in the bowels of corporate America told me that a memo circulated around his office outlawing the phrase "Eat your own dog food."The employees were instead told to use the more politically correct term, "Champagning your own product."
I have never actually spit an entire beer through my nose prior to this anecdote.
Posted by mikshaw on April 12 2006,02:11
I wonder how "eat your own dog food" is not politically correct.And "champagning" isn't even a word
Posted by newOldUser on April 12 2006,11:37
From the wikipedia....| Quote |
| To help distinguish libre (freedom) software from gratis (zero price) software, Richard Stallman, founder of the free software movement, developed the following explanation: "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'". |
So..... when someone says "Free, as in beer" that means it's free as in "no charge" ? I'm sorry, maybe this is a generation gap thing. It's just not clear to me.
Is DSL "free, as in beer" or "free, as in speech" or both? With my understanding as of now, I would think that it's both.
I guess I understand the idea of the 'dog food' phrase. It makes sense when given some background. I will say the PC "Champion your own product" is a little easier on my ears.
Posted by clacker on April 12 2006,11:46
| Quote (mikshaw @ April 11 2006,22:11) |
| I wonder how "eat your own dog food" is not politically correct. And "champagning" isn't even a word |
maybe the dog food goes down smoother with champagne? Although I've never heard anyone say free as in champagne.
Posted by mikshaw on April 12 2006,15:27
newOldUser: Personally I don't think "free beer" is a very clear way of explaining it. "Free as in no charge" is much easier to understand, particularly since the term "free beer" is typically used only when someone is trying to get the attention of college students. As I see it, it's much easier to understand it as cbagger01 explained it...
closed-source freeware = free of charge
open-source = free to share and modify