Eh, Never. Not even for open source. Once the source is closed, it is no longer open source (and neither free software).
For a software to be open source, the user should have a way to obtain the source code legally (That is, a stolen source code won't make a software open source).
For the software to be free software, the user should have the freedom to (modify and) replace the software with the user's version of the software (of course, source code availability is pre-requisite for this).
Say for example, your router, Android phone, TV, Car, or your espresso machine could be running Linux which is open source. You get the source code of those over the Internet or from the vendor on request. But you may not be allowed to change it. So you are always on the mercy of the vendor if something happen (like the one happening now). They are open source, but they are not free software. (GNU [A]GPLv3 enforces this freedom. Some like it, some don't).
A software can be free or non-free based on where the code is run, not just whether you get the source or not.
This is freedom 1 by free software definition:
The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish.
See https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html for more details.
No comments yet.
