[Tfug] [OT] Microsoft Windows 7: Upgrade or just buy a pizza?

[keith smith]

You say "The point is despite the fact that _you_ don't think that it's worth contributing".  

I never said I don't think that it is worth contributing.  I would not be on this list if I felt that way.  I'd be on a dot net and/or a windows server list someplace.  

I started with a question - Who pays?  And a statement - No Free Lunches.

I wish I had the skills abilities and resources to contribute.  I applaud those who can and do. 

------------------------
Keith Smith




--- On Tue, 4/14/09, Jeff Breadner <jeff at breadner.ca> wrote:

From: Jeff Breadner <jeff at breadner.ca>
Subject: Re: [Tfug] [OT] Microsoft Windows 7: Upgrade or just buy a pizza?
To: "Tucson Free Unix Group" <tfug at tfug.org>
Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 6:22 PM

keith smith wrote:

> Still at some point one cannot continue to contribute for free.

Maybe you can't, and maybe 99.X% of the people out there can't (or decide not to), but then their options are limited to using what the remaining percentage decide to write, or what the "legacy" companies decide to write and then sell you.

Much of the software industry is still run by this mindset, that open source is inherently crippled by a flawed business model.  And yet free software / open source flourishes, with rapidly developing core packages and new projects continually being created.

The point is despite the fact that _you_ don't think that it's worth contributing, someone out there thinks that it's worthwhile.  It's hard to say whether open source / free software has found the right business model to succeed in the long term, but the fact that there are so many people (and businesses) contributing now virtually guarantees that the mindset has taken root, and that software will continue to be produced in this manner, regardless of the economics.

Jeff Breadner

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