I read this particular question more as a question about Linux, which is on-topic. It's not a technical question, but we seem to have a consensus that history questions are on-topic, and floss¹-related concepts come up often in historical discussions about unix.

I would definitely consider a similar question about a non-unix-related piece of software as off-topic. It's the unix aspect that makes the question on-topic, not the floss aspect (this isn't http://dentistry.stackexchange.com).

Politics and idealism, however, would likely be closed as “subjective and argumentative”.

I read this particular question more as a question about Linux, which is on-topic. It's not a technical question, but we seem to have a consensus that history questions are on-topic, and floss¹-related concepts come up often in historical discussions about unix.

I would definitely consider a similar question about a non-unix-related piece of software as off-topic. It's the unix aspect that makes the question on-topic, not the floss aspect (this isn't http://dentistry.stackexchange.com).

Politics and idealism, however, would likely be closed as “subjective and argumentative”.

I read this particular question more as a question about Linux, which is on-topic. It's not a technical question, but we seem to have a consensus that history questions are on-topic, and floss¹-related concepts come up often in historical discussions about unix.

I would definitely consider a similar question about a non-unix-related piece of software as off-topic. It's the unix aspect that makes the question on-topic, not the floss aspect (this isn't http://dentistry.stackexchange.com).

Politics and idealism, however, would likely be closed as “subjective and argumentative”.

I read this particular question more as a question about Linux, which is on-topic. It's not a technical question, but we seem to have a consensus that history questions are on-topic, and floss¹-related concepts come up often in historical discussions about unix.

I would definitely consider a similar question about a non-unix-related piece of software as off-topic. It's the unix aspect that makes the question on-topic, not the floss aspect (this isn't http://dentistry.stackexchange.com).

Politics and idealism, however, would likely be closed as “subjective and argumentative”.