Linux World domination (was Re: [NCLUG] PC for Linux (Ubuntu))

John L. Bass jbass at dmsd.com
Fri Sep 19 14:56:51 MDT 2008


Rob Bayerl wrote:
> I wrote it phrased that way for emphasis on the ideology that a person
> who is capable of contributing to free software but does not, and
> still uses free software is, essentially, leaching.  The concept that
> it is acceptable to freely benefit from the hard work of others and
> not allow anyone to freely benefit from your work is fundamentally
> wrong.  Not to say that such an act in any way violates any laws or
> breaks any agreement.
This is hardly black and white. Everyone is capable of contributing in 
some way, some by code, some by testing, some by donations, some by 
evangelism.

Long before Linux was popular, public domain code, BSD code, GPL code, 
and other forms of FOSS were available for use in proprietary and 
for-profit environments without any sense of this expectation, or 
slander of FOSS software users as leaches.

The compiler, GCC, and related tool chain, that Linux was bootstrapped 
from was broadly in use on UNIX systems long before linux ... without 
any expectation that the users were leaches. You have to remember that 
major parts of core FOSS projects, especially GCC and major tool chains 
around GCC, have paid developers by their for-profit and proprietary 
employers.

Each person should have the right to choose, *if*, and where they 
contribute.

The only case where I believe there are leaches in the FOSS world, are 
companies that use FOSS extensively, and pro actively block FOSS 
development in their market. Believe me, there are others that would 
dispute even that (been there, done that).




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