On Thursday 09 Feb 2006 12:00, Colin Rothwell colin.rothwell@frambroadband.com wrote:
Why do I like Linux? I think it mainly comes down to the fact that it's free. I don't see why I should pay through the teeth for an expensive micro$oft product when I can have one that is just as good for free (i.e. Open Office org and Linux).
There is however a slight problem with this consumer side outlook, those that build and make available the distribution/s your are downloading, are depending on other consumers, such as I, (I have a subscription to Slackware), to fund the development, their hardware, web sites and mirrors.
The principle is, after all, ``Free software'' is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of ``free'' as in ``free speech,'' not as in ``free beer.'' See: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
If you want to take something, you have a responsibility to give something back.
On Thursday 09 February 2006 15:19, John Seago wrote:
Why do I like Linux? I think it mainly comes down to the fact that it's free. I don't see why I should pay through the teeth for an expensive micro$oft product when I can have one that is just as good for free (i.e. Open Office org and Linux).
There is however a slight problem with this consumer side outlook, those that build and make available the distribution/s your are downloading, are depending on other consumers, such as I, (I have a subscription to Slackware), to fund the development, their hardware, web sites and mirrors.
I couldn't agree more - As a developer of an open source application, I was approached by a user to carry out some major "enhancements" to suit his needs. These changes were of no direct value to myself, nor of any real benefit to other users, so the question of payment arose. "But it's free software and you work on this project for nothing." - Nuff said !
For my part, in return for using "free software", I try to contribute something back in return. Sometimes a small bug fix, or correcting an error on a wiki. With a couple of projects, lurk on the mailing lists & IRC channels and answering questions.. One team has a cron job running each night on one of my computers generating and uploading large files. Like the story about stone soup, if everyone put a little something in the pot, just think what could be achieved.
Regards, Paul.
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John Seago -
Paul