Michael Harpe wrote:
What I have always been curious about is this: how many of you actually take 
advantage of the open source? In other words, how many of you really take the 
source code and do something with it?

I wouldn't say I do this often, but I do look at source when there is a problem. And when I am trying to get something working that is broken or unsupported. For instance, FLAC is unsupported by the version of libsndfile in Fedora 7 because the FLAC api changed after it was written. I wrote a patch that fixes this so that I could have FLAC support in another program. And if I need a certain functionality in a program and I know it is in an open source program, I take the code and use it as a starting point in my own program.
Personally I don't. I can program in C, i'm pretty good at it. I've just never 
felt the need to alter the software I use. I'm fine with waiting for the new 
versions as they come out.
For many things, this is true of me as well. The core items usually work well, and I have no need of duplicating the functionality.
I'm really not trying to start a fight. I am just curious. I love free 
software. I think the free software movement has enabled a lot of people who 
could not afford to operate a computer to do so. Having Linux source code 
available has trained a generation of system programmers. There's no disputing 
the value of free, open source software.

Anyway, that's my question. Feel free to respond to me directly.

Mike Harpe
Sellersburg, IN USA


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