I had never heard this phrase referring to open source software (my conversations with Eric S. Raymond have been about other things) but reading The Utopian Librarian’s comments on Karen’s (http://freerangelibrarian.com)comments about free kittens which jon illuminates thusly:
“…all of these technologies are ‘free’ as in ‘free kittens,’ not free as in ‘free beer.’”
The point being that open-source software takes care and feeding, and the occasional trip to the vet.
