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  3. Why free software?

Why free software?

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    pc_dev
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    Nothing in the market is free? No taxi driver provides services for free All doctors take their fee no civil engineers builds building for free . . . Then why there is so stress for making software free of cost? Lot of brain is used from studying to becomming a good developer I think "free software" compaigns(I donot have proper word) are funded (back funded) by hardware manufacturers who are always in fear of gowing cost of software, so they have coined this philosophy; or is their some other philosophy. why they donot provide free hardware? What u say?

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    • P pc_dev

      Nothing in the market is free? No taxi driver provides services for free All doctors take their fee no civil engineers builds building for free . . . Then why there is so stress for making software free of cost? Lot of brain is used from studying to becomming a good developer I think "free software" compaigns(I donot have proper word) are funded (back funded) by hardware manufacturers who are always in fear of gowing cost of software, so they have coined this philosophy; or is their some other philosophy. why they donot provide free hardware? What u say?

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      Daniel Turini
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      This is a website that provides tons of free software and articles. HTH Yes, even I am blogging now!

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      • D Daniel Turini

        This is a website that provides tons of free software and articles. HTH Yes, even I am blogging now!

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        ProffK
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        I think the domain for free software should be in the user community, like us and CP. As soon as it goes corporate, make them pay. Sometimes people piss me off

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        • P pc_dev

          Nothing in the market is free? No taxi driver provides services for free All doctors take their fee no civil engineers builds building for free . . . Then why there is so stress for making software free of cost? Lot of brain is used from studying to becomming a good developer I think "free software" compaigns(I donot have proper word) are funded (back funded) by hardware manufacturers who are always in fear of gowing cost of software, so they have coined this philosophy; or is their some other philosophy. why they donot provide free hardware? What u say?

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          pc_dev
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          This is a developer level form; basically for mutual help (I think) Yes it provides tons of articales/software but only useful for developers only. It donot provide free software here.

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          • P pc_dev

            This is a developer level form; basically for mutual help (I think) Yes it provides tons of articales/software but only useful for developers only. It donot provide free software here.

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            ProffK
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            That's my point. As a professional forum for ourselves as analysts and developers, we provide each other (my first article is still coming) with free information and utilities. However, the business that advertise here pay CP, and they normally pay for their software (Linux does have a cost), and should continue doing so. Sometimes people piss me off

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            • P pc_dev

              Nothing in the market is free? No taxi driver provides services for free All doctors take their fee no civil engineers builds building for free . . . Then why there is so stress for making software free of cost? Lot of brain is used from studying to becomming a good developer I think "free software" compaigns(I donot have proper word) are funded (back funded) by hardware manufacturers who are always in fear of gowing cost of software, so they have coined this philosophy; or is their some other philosophy. why they donot provide free hardware? What u say?

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              Palladino
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              In this subject the romantic side also exists. People that think to be changing the world for better. To share knowledge is a thing (open) to give the software free is totally other different (free). For instance, a software that controls the safety of a nuclear power station difficultly it will be free, but it can, and perhaps, depending on the country, owe, to be open. There is not evil in this, since to be open (in a restricted circle) it turns more safer. Forum is this: The THING begins a race horse and it finishes as a camel with two heads and six paws. Marcelo Palladino

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              • P pc_dev

                Nothing in the market is free? No taxi driver provides services for free All doctors take their fee no civil engineers builds building for free . . . Then why there is so stress for making software free of cost? Lot of brain is used from studying to becomming a good developer I think "free software" compaigns(I donot have proper word) are funded (back funded) by hardware manufacturers who are always in fear of gowing cost of software, so they have coined this philosophy; or is their some other philosophy. why they donot provide free hardware? What u say?

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                benjymous
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                One answer: Lots of free software is developed by hobbyist programmers (or professional programmers doing a bit of non-work programming in their spare time) Now, in the case of the latter, many will have clauses in their main employment contracts forbidding them from working for anyone else (or saying that any work done by them, whether at work or at home, is the property of their employer) so writing a killer app on their own and selling it for profit could cause contractual problems. Now, usually, an employer will happily ignore this if the employee is doing something that isn't for profit (i.e. developing Open Source Software), and even if the employer suddenly decides that they do want to own the work afterall, the fact that it's all ready open sourced means they can't really close the project, or take it over -- Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Phoenix Paint - back from DPaint's ashes!

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                • P pc_dev

                  Nothing in the market is free? No taxi driver provides services for free All doctors take their fee no civil engineers builds building for free . . . Then why there is so stress for making software free of cost? Lot of brain is used from studying to becomming a good developer I think "free software" compaigns(I donot have proper word) are funded (back funded) by hardware manufacturers who are always in fear of gowing cost of software, so they have coined this philosophy; or is their some other philosophy. why they donot provide free hardware? What u say?

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                  Paul Watson
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  >Nothing in the market is free? >No taxi driver provides services for free >All doctors take their fee >no civil engineers builds building for free I don't know about taxi drivers but plenty of professionals in other industries give of their time and skills for free. Pro bono lawyers, charity doctors, relief aid builders and even markets give goods for free to those in need. Researchers release their findings for free, inventors put new inventions into the public domain, musicians give away tracks and film makers distribute free films etc. etc. I here what you are saying though. A lot to do with idealism and the fact that you can make a living and then in your spare time give back to the world in the way you can, in our case, through software that we feel will help others. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Michael Dunn wrote: "except the sod who voted this a 1, NO SOUP FOR YOU" Crikey! ain't life grand?

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                  • P Paul Watson

                    >Nothing in the market is free? >No taxi driver provides services for free >All doctors take their fee >no civil engineers builds building for free I don't know about taxi drivers but plenty of professionals in other industries give of their time and skills for free. Pro bono lawyers, charity doctors, relief aid builders and even markets give goods for free to those in need. Researchers release their findings for free, inventors put new inventions into the public domain, musicians give away tracks and film makers distribute free films etc. etc. I here what you are saying though. A lot to do with idealism and the fact that you can make a living and then in your spare time give back to the world in the way you can, in our case, through software that we feel will help others. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Michael Dunn wrote: "except the sod who voted this a 1, NO SOUP FOR YOU" Crikey! ain't life grand?

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                    ProffK
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    Sometimes you have to use your spare time to make a living. Sometimes people piss me off

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                    • P pc_dev

                      Nothing in the market is free? No taxi driver provides services for free All doctors take their fee no civil engineers builds building for free . . . Then why there is so stress for making software free of cost? Lot of brain is used from studying to becomming a good developer I think "free software" compaigns(I donot have proper word) are funded (back funded) by hardware manufacturers who are always in fear of gowing cost of software, so they have coined this philosophy; or is their some other philosophy. why they donot provide free hardware? What u say?

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                      Rocky Moore
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      There are also times when you know you need some software, but do not have the time to write all of it. You can create an open source, free software project and pull in other developers to help you on the premise that everyone will be able to use it. So, you are able to build something greater than you would do alone or could afford. It is also a way to give back for all your have received. There is seldom a time in today's world that people have built their skill without any help from others at no charge. Many of us use the Interenet as a large knowledge base, often shortening the time it takes to build software. Of course, you can always give back by providing answers in email, forums, or other methods. I have thought a bit about several open source projects to start this coming year. They will be free though from the time they start until there is not use for them. Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com - Now with RSS Feed www.JokesTricksAndStuff.com www.MyQuickPoll.com - Now with RSS Feed and Prizes www.GotTheAnswerToSpam.com - Again :) Me Blog

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                      • P ProffK

                        Sometimes you have to use your spare time to make a living. Sometimes people piss me off

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                        pc_dev
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        ProffK said Sometimes you have to use your spare time to make a living. How u make living from open source when no one will pay for that?

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                        • P pc_dev

                          ProffK said Sometimes you have to use your spare time to make a living. How u make living from open source when no one will pay for that?

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                          ProffK
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          I meant paying work in your spare time compared to the charity we all do for our employers. Sometimes people piss me off

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                          • P pc_dev

                            Nothing in the market is free? No taxi driver provides services for free All doctors take their fee no civil engineers builds building for free . . . Then why there is so stress for making software free of cost? Lot of brain is used from studying to becomming a good developer I think "free software" compaigns(I donot have proper word) are funded (back funded) by hardware manufacturers who are always in fear of gowing cost of software, so they have coined this philosophy; or is their some other philosophy. why they donot provide free hardware? What u say?

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                            Niall Barr
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            I write free software for a living, not for free.

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                            • P pc_dev

                              Nothing in the market is free? No taxi driver provides services for free All doctors take their fee no civil engineers builds building for free . . . Then why there is so stress for making software free of cost? Lot of brain is used from studying to becomming a good developer I think "free software" compaigns(I donot have proper word) are funded (back funded) by hardware manufacturers who are always in fear of gowing cost of software, so they have coined this philosophy; or is their some other philosophy. why they donot provide free hardware? What u say?

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                              Mike Dimmick
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              I don't mind people producing and distributing software for free, if that is their wish. I do object to their attempts to prevent me from earning my living through producing software, by providing false claims for their software (implying that Open Source is inherently superior to commercial software development, trying to get governments to pass Open Source-only regulations for certain classes of software). I think it's dishonest to say (using the GPL, for example) that people cannot use your source code unless they also provide the source code for their software. I object to the fact that commercial and open source software are not held to the same standard. I cannot believe the amount of support Linux has considering that it has no formalised testing whatsoever. The Linux Test Project[^] writes tests, but if you actually look at the test results[^], you see that no testing of kernel 2.6 has been done at all and the last 2.4 tests were done over two years ago. The test results mailing list[^] is entirely spam - there are no actual results there. Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder

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                              • P pc_dev

                                ProffK said Sometimes you have to use your spare time to make a living. How u make living from open source when no one will pay for that?

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                                Paul Watson
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                >How u make living from open source when no one will pay for that? Some companies are making money from open source. Support, extras, roll-out etc. There is apparently big business in the open source ecosphere. I am not sure how individual developers can make much money from open source though. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Michael Dunn wrote: "except the sod who voted this a 1, NO SOUP FOR YOU" Crikey! ain't life grand?

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                                • P pc_dev

                                  Nothing in the market is free? No taxi driver provides services for free All doctors take their fee no civil engineers builds building for free . . . Then why there is so stress for making software free of cost? Lot of brain is used from studying to becomming a good developer I think "free software" compaigns(I donot have proper word) are funded (back funded) by hardware manufacturers who are always in fear of gowing cost of software, so they have coined this philosophy; or is their some other philosophy. why they donot provide free hardware? What u say?

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                                  224917
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  >why they donot provide free hardware? I can provide free software for fun. And be confident of the users using it as long as they need it. But if I provide free hardware for fun, I will endup in direct loss. And also all the harwares has its own life time independent of its need.
                                  There is no spoon. suhredayan

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                                  • P pc_dev

                                    Nothing in the market is free? No taxi driver provides services for free All doctors take their fee no civil engineers builds building for free . . . Then why there is so stress for making software free of cost? Lot of brain is used from studying to becomming a good developer I think "free software" compaigns(I donot have proper word) are funded (back funded) by hardware manufacturers who are always in fear of gowing cost of software, so they have coined this philosophy; or is their some other philosophy. why they donot provide free hardware? What u say?

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                                    Simon Brown
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    Why free? Because not everybody on this planet is a money-grabbing bloodsucker. Some of us like to help other people. Old Simon HB9DRV Free software: www.ham-radio.ch[^]

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                                    • P Paul Watson

                                      >Nothing in the market is free? >No taxi driver provides services for free >All doctors take their fee >no civil engineers builds building for free I don't know about taxi drivers but plenty of professionals in other industries give of their time and skills for free. Pro bono lawyers, charity doctors, relief aid builders and even markets give goods for free to those in need. Researchers release their findings for free, inventors put new inventions into the public domain, musicians give away tracks and film makers distribute free films etc. etc. I here what you are saying though. A lot to do with idealism and the fact that you can make a living and then in your spare time give back to the world in the way you can, in our case, through software that we feel will help others. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Michael Dunn wrote: "except the sod who voted this a 1, NO SOUP FOR YOU" Crikey! ain't life grand?

                                      B Offline
                                      B Offline
                                      benjymous
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      Why is this message greyed out, when it has a score of 4.2? -- Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Phoenix Paint - back from DPaint's ashes!

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • P pc_dev

                                        Nothing in the market is free? No taxi driver provides services for free All doctors take their fee no civil engineers builds building for free . . . Then why there is so stress for making software free of cost? Lot of brain is used from studying to becomming a good developer I think "free software" compaigns(I donot have proper word) are funded (back funded) by hardware manufacturers who are always in fear of gowing cost of software, so they have coined this philosophy; or is their some other philosophy. why they donot provide free hardware? What u say?

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                                        Chris Maunder
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        Why free software? Because not everyone is selfish. Becuase some of us enjoy giving something away that cost us nothing more than our time. Because it's nice helping others who cannot afford to buy things themselves. Because it's nice being part of a group that thinks the same way. cheers, Chris Maunder

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                                        • P Paul Watson

                                          >How u make living from open source when no one will pay for that? Some companies are making money from open source. Support, extras, roll-out etc. There is apparently big business in the open source ecosphere. I am not sure how individual developers can make much money from open source though. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Michael Dunn wrote: "except the sod who voted this a 1, NO SOUP FOR YOU" Crikey! ain't life grand?

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                                          El Corazon
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          Paul Watson wrote: I am not sure how individual developers can make much money from open source though. well, I don't know how all do. I do know that the two original developers of OpenSceneGraph API have their own respective small businesses to handle support for and teaching of OpenSceneGraph. So if you want a new feature, or you find something broken and need it fixed, your name goes to the top of the bin if you have paid support. I have not discused if either of them make a decent wage doing this, that I do not know. Open source is not that much different than what I do for a career. I do not own any of my software, although I could probably argue intelectual rights if push comes to shove, still, the government owns the code. Anyone from the government can access the code with one form filed in triplicate signed by and sent to the appropriate peoples. That is all it takes, and I pack up my code on a CD and hand it off. There are also rules and regulations for corporate sharing of intelectual property those forms are more lengthy and require many more signatures. But essentially anyone with the time and effort can get my software, source and all. I still make money because I know it, it's easier to pay me to add something to it than to learn the depths of the code. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)

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