[muskogee]

Giving stuff away is a good marketing tool for a programmer/marketing expert but not for a programmer. My advice for a young programmer: be a programmer/marketing expert.

[simply marvelous]

I guess that I see programming for free to be like volunteering. You volunteer your time and effort and realize that you probably won't receive any recognition. However no one is forcing you to volunteer and you can stop whenever you want. You continue to volunteer because you feel like you are making a difference by helping someone else.