Well said! I find this attitude most pervasive in the Ubuntu crowd, but it exists to some extent with all distributions. When you get into the "management" of companies, especially companies with 5 PCs yet name a Director of IT, the "we don't pay for nuthin'" attitude is even policy.
I have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars of time and cash to various OpenSource projects. Participated in driver bug shoots and even published a completely free book to provide both promotion AND A USER MANUAL to a Java class library I found to be above all others out there. http://www.free-ebooks.net/ebook/The-Minimum-You-Need-to-Know-About-Java-and-xBaseJ All users get to pull it down completely free. Months of my life and thousands of dollars in professional editing to provide what most OpenSource projects lack, a usable manual + tutorial. On Mon, 2011-05-30 at 17:22 -0400, webmaster for Kracked Press Productions wrote: > On 05/30/2011 03:46 PM, Tanstaafl wrote: > > On 2011-05-30 2:53 PM, Roland Hughes wrote: > >> On Mon, 2011-05-30 at 14:34 -0400, Tanstaafl wrote: > >>> On 2011-05-29 3:58 AM, Alexander Thurgood wrote: > >>>> An example : can anyone point me to a webpage from the Foundation or the > >>>> LibreOffice.org site where it clearly states that LibreOffice is not > >>>> intended for business use or that if you are a business you should buy > >>>> support ? > >>> No, because there isn't one, because there is no requirement or even > >>> strong recommendation. > >>> > >>> But of course there is certainly nothing wrong with buying a support > >>> contract if you want one. > >> It's a common cultural problem in the OpenSource community. Everyone > >> thinks "they" deserve all software for free, but if you have a company > >> or business email address "you" should spend all of your money so that > >> they can continue to have free software. It doesn't matter what > >> OpenSource operating system or application/software package you are > >> using, this irrational response persists. I imagine it is even more > >> persistent in the LO world since they just cut free of "Sugar Daddy"> > > and now need a revenue source. > > > > I've never seen or noticed such an attitude - certainly not anything > > nearly as pervasive or prevalent as you seem to by suggesting. > > > Well, that attitude has been seen before by some people I know. "I get > mine free, while you have to pay for yours" , is the mindset I see > myself from time to time. > > Open Source does cost. It costs people's time and effort, even if they > provide it for free. Then there is the costs of the support system. I > am not talking about paid consultants. I am talking about Domain names, > hosting systems or accounts, servers and other physical needs to keep > the TDF/LO web sites up and running. Then there is the fees to display > at events and conventions. Then there is the marketing banners, > brochures, pamphlets, handouts, etc., etc., that is part of the > materials that are used for marketing at such an event. > > Then there is the people who wants to produce DVDs to get to people who > cannot download the package software, due to bandwidth issues or other > constrants to their Internet usage. These people who make these DVDs > have money tied up with DVD cases, Printable DVD media, Printing the DVD > case covers and the inserted pamphlets, and how about buying a printer > that can print on the printable DVD media. All these things cost money. > > For TDF/LibreOffice, they wish to raise the need funds to provide for > the money being spent for the physical costs of the services required > for their web hosting needs, plus any marketing costs spent or will be > spent marketing the product. Then there is the local people who make > the DVDs. They need to help cover their costs in making the DVDs and > the shipping costs to send it out to those who will need their DVD > printing/shipping services. > > Sure, there are people who volunteer their time and efforts > programing/developing, marketing, and may other task involved with the > creation and distribution of an Open Source software package. But there > are things that cost money as well. There are businesses that have > volunteered their people and money to help the cause of Open Source. > But nothing is truly free. Somewhere it costs someone money. Time is > money too. > > If you want free software, you are "paying for it" by your time and > efforts finding it, downloading it, maybe promoting it to your friends > and family, supporting it in the email lists, or even donating some cash > to it via its fundraising efforts. > > FOR ME > I am a part of the North American Community DVD Project. I have donated > space on my hosting account and "bought" a domain for its testing portal > " http://libreoffice-na.us/ ". I have bought DVD cases, printable > media, and a printer to print onto those printable media. I will be > handing out many of these DVDs to local people, organizations, > businesses, and government agencies - ALL out of my own fixed income > "pocket". I am providing these things because I want to support TDF/LO > in whatever ways I am able to. I no longer can help program/develop the > software, since 3 strokes have wiped much of my skills. > > Next, hopefully, the NA group will be working on shipping DVD out to > people who cannot download the software themselves. I know of many > people who cannot do this. Not even half of all households in the USA > has broadband. Many cannot afford it, while others have no access to > it, even if they have the money. So we hope to be able to get a system > worked out where people can order the DVD online [some way] for the > costs of the media and the shipping, etc., and maybe a little profit > that could go into a regional marketing fund and some to go into the > International marketing fund. > > SO > there are people out there who feel that they will keep getting their > open source software free, while others keep paying for it, for them to > have it free. Those people may thing they get free since they are not > paying for it in cash. But, in the long term, everyone pays for open > source in some way. That is one principle I remember from my economic > courses. Just because their is the word "FREE" on the price tag, you > are still paying for it by other methods, methods that you may not be > aware of unless you are given all the facts and chain of events that > came about in the production and development of that product. > > Tim L. > Elmira, New York, USA, World > I volunteer my time and my computers for many causes, where LibreOffice > is just one of them. > -- Roland Hughes, President Logikal Solutions (630)-205-1593 http://www.theminimumyouneedtoknow.com http://www.infiniteexposure.net No U.S. troops have ever lost their lives defending our ethanol reserves. -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to [email protected] Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/www/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
