Type "free software" into a search engine, and what do you get - information about free software (Free Software Foundation "free speech") or about freeware ("free beer")?
I believe the spread of the FSF meaning of "free software" at the expense of the older "freeware" one is a linguistic indicator of the success of the free software movement. Here I look at what the major search engines return on a search for "free software" (using default options except for selection of 10 results where a choice is available). I plan to redo this every few months.
Of course search engine results are probably more influential in shaping language use than they are an accurate measure of it...
| Engine | Summary | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Altavista | 6/10 | "GNU's Not Unix!", "GNU GPL", "Open Source Initiative", "Unmaintained Free Software", "GNU Hurd", "GNU GPL" |
| 3/10 | "GNU's Not Unix!", "The Free Software Definition - GNU Project", and "Debian Social Contract" |
| Engine | Summary | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Altavista | 4/10 | "Measuring the Impact of Free Software", "Jimmc's Free Software", "FSF Award nominees 1999 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation", "Free Software" (http://www.qsl.net/n0nb/linux/freesoftware.html). |
| Lycos | 3/14 | "webreview.com - What is Free Software?", "Axel Boldt's Free Software Projects", "The Free Software Bazaar". |
| 2/10 | "The GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation", "What is Free Software?" | |
| Go | 2/10 | "GNU's Not Unix! GNU Project of the Free Software Foundation" (twice). |
| Northernlight | 2/10 | "GNU's Not Unix! GNU Project of the Free Software Foundation", "Open Resources". |
| Excite | 1/10 | "GNU's Not Unix! - the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation (FSF)" |
| LycosPro | 0/10 | |
| MSN | 0/10 | Still no results about free software. |
| Engine | Summary | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 5/10 | "The GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation", "What is Free Software?", "The Free Software Bazaar", "Free Software (Open Source®)", "Development, Ethical Trading, and Free Software". | |
| Altavista | 2/10 | "Measuring the Impact of Free Software" and "FSF Award nominees 1999 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation". |
| Go | 2/10 | "The GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation" (twice). |
| LycosPro | 2/10 | "Axel Boldt's Free Software Projects" and "The Free Software Bazaar". |
| Excite | 1/10 | "The GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation". |
| MSN | 0/10 | None of the results seem to be about free software. Hmmm... |