Comments on: A Free Software Experiment http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/ Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology Sun, 27 May 2012 01:17:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Free Download http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-48561 Free Download Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:24:38 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/#comment-48561 <p>From this experiment we all benefit, Mozilla’s Thunderbird mail client is a powerful software. Don’t get this wrong but I don’t care how much they earn as long I’m not paying for it.</p> From this experiment we all benefit, Mozilla’s Thunderbird mail client is a powerful software. Don’t get this wrong but I don’t care how much they earn as long I’m not paying for it.

]]> By: Free Download http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-39397 Free Download Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:24:38 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/#comment-39397 <p>From this experiment we all benefit, Mozilla’s Thunderbird mail client is a powerful software. Don’t get this wrong but I don’t care how much they earn as long I’m not paying for it.</p> From this experiment we all benefit, Mozilla’s Thunderbird mail client is a powerful software. Don’t get this wrong but I don’t care how much they earn as long I’m not paying for it.

]]> By: eee_eff http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-48560 eee_eff Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:11:09 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/#comment-48560 <p>This is part of a general expansion of the NFP sector, and it's already happened with Samba and Gentoo. Gentoo's been a a foundation for a couple of years now, I believe.<br><br>Perhaps of interest here:<br><br><a href="http://enigmafoundry.wordpress.com/2007/03/07/not-your-fathers-thousand-points-of-light/">http://enigmafoundry.wordpress.com/2007/03/07/n...</a></p> This is part of a general expansion of the NFP sector, and it’s already happened with Samba and Gentoo. Gentoo’s been a a foundation for a couple of years now, I believe.

Perhaps of interest here:

http://enigmafoundry.wordpress.com/2007/03/07/n…

]]> By: Steve R. http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-48559 Steve R. Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:29:34 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/#comment-48559 <p>Tom: Unless one is independently wealthy, we all need a source of income. I don't have an issue with those working on LINUX getting paid. The important point is that the product is unencumbered, based on open standards, and freely available to the public.<br><br>As to the history of open source being littered with failure? What's the point? This is a false argument since every private for profit company has a cemetery full of failures. Some examples of failed products include the Edsel, New Coke, Betamax, and certain Sony/BMG CDs (Sony rootkit). A coming failure will be in the HDDVD format war will the winner/loser be either Blue-ray or HD-DVD? Only time will tell.</p> Tom: Unless one is independently wealthy, we all need a source of income. I don’t have an issue with those working on LINUX getting paid. The important point is that the product is unencumbered, based on open standards, and freely available to the public.

As to the history of open source being littered with failure? What’s the point? This is a false argument since every private for profit company has a cemetery full of failures. Some examples of failed products include the Edsel, New Coke, Betamax, and certain Sony/BMG CDs (Sony rootkit). A coming failure will be in the HDDVD format war will the winner/loser be either Blue-ray or HD-DVD? Only time will tell.

]]> By: enigma_foundry http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-39396 enigma_foundry Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:11:09 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/#comment-39396 <p>This is part of a general expansion of the NFP sector, and it's already happened with Samba and Gentoo. Gentoo's been a a foundation for a couple of years now, I believe.</p> <p>Perhaps of interest here:</p> <p>http://enigmafoundry.wordpress.com/2007/03/07/not-your-fathers-thousand-points-of-light/</p> This is part of a general expansion of the NFP sector, and it’s already happened with Samba and Gentoo. Gentoo’s been a a foundation for a couple of years now, I believe.

Perhaps of interest here:

http://enigmafoundry.wordpress.com/2007/03/07/not-your-fathers-thousand-points-of-light/

]]> By: Tim Lee http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-48558 Tim Lee Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:36:31 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/#comment-48558 <p>Most of the people working on Linux may be "on the clock" somewhere, but they don't get their paycheck from Linux Torvalds. So "volunteers" probably isn't the right word to use, but from an organizational perspective, most open source projects are volunteer efforts in the sense that their leaders aren't paying the salaries of most of the people contributing. Which means that unlike traditional for-profit companies, the leaders of open source projects typically don't really get to decide what the other developers work on, because each developer has his own priorities set either by his own interests or the company that pays his salary.</p> Most of the people working on Linux may be “on the clock” somewhere, but they don’t get their paycheck from Linux Torvalds. So “volunteers” probably isn’t the right word to use, but from an organizational perspective, most open source projects are volunteer efforts in the sense that their leaders aren’t paying the salaries of most of the people contributing. Which means that unlike traditional for-profit companies, the leaders of open source projects typically don’t really get to decide what the other developers work on, because each developer has his own priorities set either by his own interests or the company that pays his salary.

]]> By: Steve R. http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-39395 Steve R. Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:29:34 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/#comment-39395 <p>Tom: Unless one is independently wealthy, we all need a source of income. I don't have an issue with those working on LINUX getting paid. The important point is that the product is unencumbered, based on open standards, and freely available to the public.</p> <p>As to the history of open source being littered with failure? What's the point? This is a false argument since every private for profit company has a cemetery full of failures. Some examples of failed products include the Edsel, New Coke, Betamax, and certain Sony/BMG CDs (Sony rootkit). A coming failure will be in the HDDVD format war will the winner/loser be either Blue-ray or HD-DVD? Only time will tell.</p> Tom: Unless one is independently wealthy, we all need a source of income. I don’t have an issue with those working on LINUX getting paid. The important point is that the product is unencumbered, based on open standards, and freely available to the public.

As to the history of open source being littered with failure? What’s the point? This is a false argument since every private for profit company has a cemetery full of failures. Some examples of failed products include the Edsel, New Coke, Betamax, and certain Sony/BMG CDs (Sony rootkit). A coming failure will be in the HDDVD format war will the winner/loser be either Blue-ray or HD-DVD? Only time will tell.

]]> By: Don Marti http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-48557 Don Marti Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:07:09 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/#comment-48557 <p>Most open source programmers are working "on the clock" by now. Hobbyist contributors are not drawing a salary either because they're still building expertise and reputation (like college football players) or they just like their day jobs better.<br><br></p> <p>The real problem here is: what's the business model for a mail client? Web browsers are a cash cow since you can sell the default search engine setting. This has brought Mozilla $50 million or so. But what's the thing you use a free mail client to sell? I suppose you could offer users a "report spam" button, and charge antispam vendors for fresh spam reports, but what else?</p> Most open source programmers are working “on the clock” by now. Hobbyist contributors are not drawing a salary either because they’re still building expertise and reputation (like college football players) or they just like their day jobs better.

The real problem here is: what’s the business model for a mail client? Web browsers are a cash cow since you can sell the default search engine setting. This has brought Mozilla $50 million or so. But what’s the thing you use a free mail client to sell? I suppose you could offer users a “report spam” button, and charge antispam vendors for fresh spam reports, but what else?

]]> By: Tom http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-48556 Tom Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:52:00 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/#comment-48556 <p>As with so many things, I suspect its success will be determined by the people rather than the arrangement. After all, Linus Torvalds draws a salary for maintaining Linux; so do the maintainers of Samba, I believe. And of course Mozilla's had a lot of money for a while now, as you note. There are more corporate sponsors of prominent open source contributors than you might think -- enough that you'll occasionally hear it argued that open source is a crock, that the movement is just marketing. I wouldn't go that far, but it's true that a lot of FOSS superstars end up getting paid to do what they do. Their projects continue to accept patches from the community, and their technical direction doesn't generally change.<br><br>But it's true that those projects are more often related to low-level drivers and servers than consumer products. And the history of open source GUI mail clients is littered with failures, so I can't say I'm betting on these guys (although I'm certainly rooting for them).</p> As with so many things, I suspect its success will be determined by the people rather than the arrangement. After all, Linus Torvalds draws a salary for maintaining Linux; so do the maintainers of Samba, I believe. And of course Mozilla’s had a lot of money for a while now, as you note. There are more corporate sponsors of prominent open source contributors than you might think — enough that you’ll occasionally hear it argued that open source is a crock, that the movement is just marketing. I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s true that a lot of FOSS superstars end up getting paid to do what they do. Their projects continue to accept patches from the community, and their technical direction doesn’t generally change.

But it’s true that those projects are more often related to low-level drivers and servers than consumer products. And the history of open source GUI mail clients is littered with failures, so I can’t say I’m betting on these guys (although I’m certainly rooting for them).

]]> By: Tim Lee http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-39394 Tim Lee Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:36:31 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/#comment-39394 <p>Most of the people working on Linux may be "on the clock" somewhere, but they don't get their paycheck from Linux Torvalds. So "volunteers" probably isn't the right word to use, but from an organizational perspective, most open source projects are volunteer efforts in the sense that their leaders aren't paying the salaries of most of the people contributing. Which means that unlike traditional for-profit companies, the leaders of open source projects typically don't really get to decide what the other developers work on, because each developer has his own priorities set either by his own interests or the company that pays his salary.</p> Most of the people working on Linux may be “on the clock” somewhere, but they don’t get their paycheck from Linux Torvalds. So “volunteers” probably isn’t the right word to use, but from an organizational perspective, most open source projects are volunteer efforts in the sense that their leaders aren’t paying the salaries of most of the people contributing. Which means that unlike traditional for-profit companies, the leaders of open source projects typically don’t really get to decide what the other developers work on, because each developer has his own priorities set either by his own interests or the company that pays his salary.

]]> By: Don Marti http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-39393 Don Marti Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:07:09 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/#comment-39393 <p>Most open source programmers are working "on the clock" by now. Hobbyist contributors are not drawing a salary either because they're still building expertise and reputation (like college football players) or they just like their day jobs better.</p> <p>The real problem here is: what's the business model for a mail client? Web browsers are a cash cow since you can sell the default search engine setting. This has brought Mozilla $50 million or so. But what's the thing you use a free mail client to sell? I suppose you could offer users a "report spam" button, and charge antispam vendors for fresh spam reports, but what else?</p> Most open source programmers are working “on the clock” by now. Hobbyist contributors are not drawing a salary either because they’re still building expertise and reputation (like college football players) or they just like their day jobs better.

The real problem here is: what’s the business model for a mail client? Web browsers are a cash cow since you can sell the default search engine setting. This has brought Mozilla $50 million or so. But what’s the thing you use a free mail client to sell? I suppose you could offer users a “report spam” button, and charge antispam vendors for fresh spam reports, but what else?

]]> By: Tom http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/comment-page-1/#comment-39392 Tom Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:52:00 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/09/18/a-free-software-experiment/#comment-39392 <p>As with so many things, I suspect its success will be determined by the people rather than the arrangement. After all, Linus Torvalds draws a salary for maintaining Linux; so do the maintainers of Samba, I believe. And of course Mozilla's had a lot of money for a while now, as you note. There are more corporate sponsors of prominent open source contributors than you might think -- enough that you'll occasionally hear it argued that open source is a crock, that the movement is just marketing. I wouldn't go that far, but it's true that a lot of FOSS superstars end up getting paid to do what they do. Their projects continue to accept patches from the community, and their technical direction doesn't generally change.</p> <p>But it's true that those projects are more often related to low-level drivers and servers than consumer products. And the history of open source GUI mail clients is littered with failures, so I can't say I'm betting on these guys (although I'm certainly rooting for them).</p> As with so many things, I suspect its success will be determined by the people rather than the arrangement. After all, Linus Torvalds draws a salary for maintaining Linux; so do the maintainers of Samba, I believe. And of course Mozilla’s had a lot of money for a while now, as you note. There are more corporate sponsors of prominent open source contributors than you might think — enough that you’ll occasionally hear it argued that open source is a crock, that the movement is just marketing. I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s true that a lot of FOSS superstars end up getting paid to do what they do. Their projects continue to accept patches from the community, and their technical direction doesn’t generally change.

But it’s true that those projects are more often related to low-level drivers and servers than consumer products. And the history of open source GUI mail clients is littered with failures, so I can’t say I’m betting on these guys (although I’m certainly rooting for them).

]]>