[Mr. K]

The Open-Source maniacs are a weird group. They believe in open source, so YOU have to believe in it to.

I keep telling them, if they want to write software and give it away free, then go ahead- no one is arguing with them.

But I can't afford to work for free - I have afamily to support.

[thedugal]

But I can't afford to work for free - I have afamily to support.

Greedy corporate pig! [/slashnutter]

[Arkinsaw]

But I can't afford to work for free - I have afamily to support.

Of course you can't work for free, that's why your job will soon be going to Honduras or India.

[Young Rhino]

But I can't afford to work for free - I have afamily to support.

If someone is giving it away for free (or your competitor is selling it for less), it isn't a matter of working for free. It is a matter of finding a profitable niche rather than knocking one's head against a wall. RIAA and MPAA are just starting to learn this lesson. Many retail bricks and mortar businesses have had to learn the lesson by Wal-Mart putting them out of business.

[Arkinsaw]

The Open-Source maniacs are a weird group. They believe in open source, so YOU have to believe in it to.

You are essentially participating in an open-source news broadcast facility right now.

[Moose4]

Thing is, open-source software doesn't have to be free as in costing $0.00. It's perfectly legit to charge for it. But when you buy it, you get the source code along with it if you want, and can make any modifications you want--just remember that those modifications have to go back into the public domain.

And a lot of open-source software is quite good. I use OpenOffice 1.1 at home, which is a freely downloadable clone of Microsoft Office. Is it as good as MS Office? No, not quite, but it's close enough for what I need. And, I don't have to pay several hundred dollars for it or bootleg a copy.

I agree that some of the open-source people get weird sometimes (Stallman in particular gets waaaaay out there on occasion). But as a development methodology, it's got its place beside commercial software.

}:-)4

[SauronOfMordor]

But I can't afford to work for free - I have afamily to support.

Think of open-source software as advertising. You put out some open source software for a particular area. People use it. Your name becomes better known. When they want special customization, or a special project in that specialty, who are they going to think of asking first?