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A comment on How is the free firmware for the Raspberry progressing?. Parent comment

Re:How is the free firmware for the Raspberry progressing? by samhw on Tuesday April 12, 2022 @05:13PM (#31008297)
Nope. Like I said a moment ago[0], it really did just mean ‘free as in speech’, like not-quite-free public transport suggests. Your explanation is certainly very neat and plausible - all the makings of a folk etymology - but it happens not to be correct.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31008161

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Re:How is the free firmware for the Raspberry progressing? by implements on Wednesday April 13, 2022 @05:39AM (#31012722)
You’re right about “Public, as in open to all (who can pay)” being the primary origin of the name, but it has also evolved to mean:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/public%20school

“An endowed secondary boarding school in Great Britain offering a classical curriculum and preparation for the universities or public service.”

The purpose of public schools isn’t academic excellence (though of-course they support it for their most able pupils) but networking and the ‘habits of person’ necessary to compete socially in class-sensitive institutions.

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