Steve:
I have just tried reading a couple of documents to brush up on this and found to my surprise that the "Open Source Software Definition" [http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition_plain.html] reads as a slighly edited version of the "Debian Free Software Guidelines" [http://www.uk.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines].
Yes, Bruce Perens, of Debian fame, helped to set up the Open Source Initiative. The DFSG are descended from the FSF definition of free software. If you take the OSI definition, "Open Source" *should* be exactly the same as "Free Software". Terms don't always get used exactly as we define them, though. While "Free Software" speaks of software and freedom from restriction, "Open Source" is purely being able to see the source code. I think Free Software is more easily explained to the layman and harder to "hijack".
I'd always regarded open source as a wider field with Free Software being the purer core, but where is the line to be drawn.
Yes, that's pretty much how it breaks down these days. "Open source" covers all sorts of proprietary software from people like Sun. Even MS supports have claimed that its offering to let certain people see certain bits of the source to Windows makes it "open source"!
- Some of the benefits of free software (e.g. customisiing it) only accrue to those who have the skill to work on it, or have the resources to hire someone who does have the necessary skill.
There's another part to this benefit: the freedom to study it and gain that skill required to modify it. Like a recipe book, free software allows you to try things out and modify the recipes. I suspect a lot of us have gained from this freedom in the past.
- Other benefits (cheap copies and free redistribution) are more valuable to the honest. What can we offer someone who says "That's all very well but I can get a copy of Win2KPro from my mate". The answer, of course, is a clear concience.
For companies, it's rather easier. No-one company can afford to act illegally. No-one wants a visit from the "Business Software Alliance" with a hefty fine for copyright licence breaches. There are two alternatives: you spend a lot of money on licence purchase and licence enforcement (the hidden cost of proprietary software); or you embrace Free Software. Yes, there are some conversion costs today, but then it's cheaper forever. Really, it's a no-brainer.
Another benefit you haven't mentioned is the inability of anyone else to take your data away from you. How many times have proprietary software changed formats incompatibly, leaving you with no conversion tool and no way to get the old version of the program? Even worse, have you ever had a company go bust and then your computer dies? Even if you had backups, if you need an "activation key" when you install it on the new machine, you're stuck again.
Of course, the clincher is if people can see that there are high quality applications to do the kind of things they want to do with their PCs, so the list of applications to demo is definitely a way to go.
Yes, this is how to win the home users and the individuals who have the freedom to choose what they use. They are the people who we need to target with an event, I think. We should still have literature for the other viewpoints (eg business, public bodies) available, but let's pick an audience and target it.