hockeyfighter09
March 26th, 2011, 09:02 PM
Hey all, I discovered Linux and open source software a little over 4 years ago now. It transformed the way I thought about software and using the computer. So now in my senior year of college I have chosen for open source software to be the subject of my thesis.
The topic of this thread is the research question of my thesis. But it is also question that I have been thinking about for the last couple years or so. Why do people decide to write software and then give it out for free for all to modify? The second has to do with forums like these. I have always wondered why people do help support on these forums for free when they can be making money doing the exact same thing. Below I will write 13 research questions that you guys can give me your answers or philosophy too.
1. How long have you been using Linux?
2. How did you learn/find out about Linux?
3. Why have you chosen Linux over other operating systems available?
4. Why did you choose to use your current distribution?
5. Do you still use any closed source programs that are not available for Linux?
6. Tell me the reasons that you contribute to the community?
7. What do you think motivates others to contribute to the community?
8. In your opinion, what reasons do you think others provide software to everyone for free?
9. In what ways do you feel contributing to the community could benefit someone's future/career?
10. What is it about contributing or programming that you enjoy most? Is there any aspects you dislike?
11. Are you a member of other non-software communities? Such as a church, voluntary organizations or charities?
12. Does your open source work spillover with any other areas of your life?
13. If you provide support on forums such as these, why do it for free?
You DO NOT have to answer all 13 of the questions above. Please just pick out the ones that you feel are most important or interesting to answer. If someone else says something that you think is interesting feel free to respond to them if you agree or disagree.
If anyone wants to take this discussion further with me than the forum, I will absolutely love too! Just please send me a private message on here and we can figure out further ways of contacting each other.
I plan on using the user names on this forum to identify people in my paper. If any of you are uncomfortable with me using your username in my paper, please let me know! I will be monitoring this thread on a day by day basis for the next two months or so, until my thesis is complete. If you guys have any other questions that pop up, please do not hesitate to ask! Thank you all in advance for helping me with my research data collection!
The topic of this thread is the research question of my thesis. But it is also question that I have been thinking about for the last couple years or so. Why do people decide to write software and then give it out for free for all to modify? The second has to do with forums like these. I have always wondered why people do help support on these forums for free when they can be making money doing the exact same thing. Below I will write 13 research questions that you guys can give me your answers or philosophy too.
1. How long have you been using Linux?
2. How did you learn/find out about Linux?
3. Why have you chosen Linux over other operating systems available?
4. Why did you choose to use your current distribution?
5. Do you still use any closed source programs that are not available for Linux?
6. Tell me the reasons that you contribute to the community?
7. What do you think motivates others to contribute to the community?
8. In your opinion, what reasons do you think others provide software to everyone for free?
9. In what ways do you feel contributing to the community could benefit someone's future/career?
10. What is it about contributing or programming that you enjoy most? Is there any aspects you dislike?
11. Are you a member of other non-software communities? Such as a church, voluntary organizations or charities?
12. Does your open source work spillover with any other areas of your life?
13. If you provide support on forums such as these, why do it for free?
You DO NOT have to answer all 13 of the questions above. Please just pick out the ones that you feel are most important or interesting to answer. If someone else says something that you think is interesting feel free to respond to them if you agree or disagree.
If anyone wants to take this discussion further with me than the forum, I will absolutely love too! Just please send me a private message on here and we can figure out further ways of contacting each other.
I plan on using the user names on this forum to identify people in my paper. If any of you are uncomfortable with me using your username in my paper, please let me know! I will be monitoring this thread on a day by day basis for the next two months or so, until my thesis is complete. If you guys have any other questions that pop up, please do not hesitate to ask! Thank you all in advance for helping me with my research data collection!