Attention: Linux Programmers

[SandyKhan]

What should all the Linux Programmers do to survive?

[Lord Illidan]

I'm confused. What do you mean by this question?

How Linux programmers survive by releasing their code for peanuts?

[SandyKhan]

Everything is free and open source. Where to earn from?

[Ardrias]

Consulting.

[Lord Illidan]

Read this for starters : http://www.linux.com/articles/29045

Also, note this : http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
and http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html

It's not impossible to make money with Open Source software, either as part of a job, or selling it.

[SandyKhan]

If a software is poorly documented, it will simply flop. And if you explain everything in the documentation, to whom you will provide the consultancy?

[edm1]

What should all the Linux Programmers do to survive?

Eat, drink and sleep.

[wolfbone]

If a software is poorly documented, it will simply flop. And if you explain everything in the documentation, to whom you will provide the consultancy?

Your first sentence is a non sequitur and your second is, obliquely, the invalid implication that full documentation is universally sufficient and perfectly enabling.

[pmasiar]

If a software is poorly documented, it will simply flop. And if you explain everything in the documentation, to whom you will provide the consultancy?

We had these discussion before, and it spiraled down to flamewars. And i am not sure if this is not a flamebait - it is so close.

Many users are ready to pay for time if someone can install/configure free software and do it right, because for them software is just a tool, not the goal. They prefer to make money by something they already know, instead of learning new technology. Others will spend time on learning it, and improving it. it depends.

And you can sell GPL-ed programs with no problems - "Free" is about free speech (providing source code), not free beer.

[pmasiar]

Eat, drink and sleep.

When some random blogger asked Guido "what is most important skill for a programmer", he answered: "to boil an egg" :-)

[Vadi]

Billions of dollars are being made on open-source programs. You just aren't looking well enough.

[macogw]

And if you explain everything in the documentation, to whom you will provide the consultancy?
- The people who don't read docs because they think they know what they're doing, and then break it
- Businesses, who for the most part refuse to use anything without a commercial support contract
- People who think they shouldn't *have* to read docs, you should just tell them
- People who aren't so hot with computers and can't understand docs

There's also the part where a company says "we need an app to do x and can't find one that meets our needs" and you are contracted, and then you open source it so that future changes the company needs can be done by anyone...but you still got paid for the initial development, and there's no marginal cost in producing more copies of it once you've written it.

[tehet]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4190979&postcount=5

[Vadi]

Software support you can pay for is an important factor, as well as a free community.

I've read about several businesses switching their linux vendors because one offered paid support and others didn't. Really, depends on how well can their staff work with the open source community in the end.

[qualicum]

If a software is poorly documented, it will simply flop. And if you explain everything in the documentation, to whom you will provide the consultancy?

I don't think that that is the reason the documentation seems incomplete, however, would be willing to agree that documentation is for sure incompleted for some specific issues, like for example the rt2x00 driver installation "oblivion". It would seem, that things can work, and likely do not to these degrees; "setup" programs are not what one would like, they are not necessarilly offering "options", which in short, means they are not "standardized". Why does, for example, openSUSE 11.2 fully recognize a usb dongle which requires an rt2870 driver, but installs another driver. Quirky... Personally, I don't think that linux is a viable alternative to some other plug and play operating system installation methods. Except cost wise. I doubt that marketers will allow linux to survive as freeware. There is too much profit in it for themselves, to allow someone to download a free os. In short I don't see linux programmers as marketing agents or brokers for lack of a better term, however their end product may in fact profit someone else who sees a bangable buck and hates to work hard themselves to have it.
As far as "flopping" goes, locally, perhaps. As my PC will testify. In other regards, some of the finest software i've seen to date, is written with linux compilers, and its capability of detecting hardware accurately is superb. That is an "undocumented" success, in itself.

[cariboo907]

@qualicum, welcome to the forums, how's the beach? This thread is over two years old, might I suggest you check the date of the last post before replying to any more old threads..

[susier]

this all sounds good to me!!