R.J.,
Thanks for the great article. Enjoyed reading it.
I think a phrase: "My personal desire is to live in Paris and get somebody to pay me" points to the source of all (may be most of ) the problem with the free software.
Why some people have a problem understanding that other people need means to pay for groceries, clothes for kids, roof over their heads?
I don't do anything for free myself, except when it goes directly to those in need and called charity. I would have no problem paying someone for the good job that saves my time.
I paid for RH 5.2 package anyway. They charged me $40 for package plus $26 for delivery. Computer cost me $1000 plus. I'd love to pay $20 extra and get a nice desktop environment. I'd love to pay $200 extra and get the rest of what I need instead of tinkering with a bunch of assorted raw programs. Why they don't leave it for me to decide what I want, free or with the price tag?
If we look at "fathers" of free software, all of them live off it. I read somewhere on the net that Richard Stallman got $200,000 financing to continue his job. Linus Torvalds admitted in an interview that, while not selling Linux directly, he got his very good job only due to his position in the Linux world. Eric Raymond just got a top level job in one of the companies. I posted that article only a few of days ago.
So I keep asking myself, why all those guys and gals that want to get paid for their hard work getting stigmatized? Is it a conspiracy of hypocrisy?
As usual, this is JMHO. |
