Tim Benson has written a letter to the editor of the British Medical Journal reacting to Douglas Carnall’s Medical software’s free future article. Benson argues that: ‘…An obvious route forward for the public sector would be to state that all software developed at the public’s expense be licensed as open source…’ He also weighs in on the commercial side: ‘…Unfortunately, the title of Carnall’s editorial gives the impression that open source software costs you nothing. This is not generally true. Open source software is “free as in speech, not as in beer.”…’