Poll: Should we have to pay for linux software

[ryukent]

This is a thread to find out exactly what people's views are on commercial non-freeware/opensource software. Ignoring windows / mac, the question is, do you think we should pay for linux software? Is there room in the market for commercial offerings? Should everything be freely available? If it costs money, does that mean you'd actually pay for it? Can commercial software do anything that freely available opensource cannot?

[hhhhhx]

Don't care about licences, I'll pirate and never pay!
well, most linux users give out there software, it's not realy a matter of stealing, is more of sharing :)

[uberlube]

Wow you finally changed your avatar lol. Anyhoo I believe that even though open source equals free, we still should donate however much we feel is appropriate to the people whose software we use on a regular basis. These guys are very selfless and they deserve our thanks, even if its just $5. Programmers need to eat and drink beer to. :)

[angry_johnnie]

All software should be open source. I'm not paying

Open source means free as in speech, not free as in beer. This question has been asked before. And, yes, I would gladly pay for it if I had to. But, I don't think people should have to pay for it. Not everyone can afford to buy an OS. Linux is great because it's free in every sense. We're free to use it, change it, share it, give it away, throw it away, break it, whatever! To think that there are people out there working on it, dedicating their time and efforts to develop something good, so that people like you and I can use it freely and be absolutely certain of that freedom, is just so much bigger than money. And I'm thankful for it.

[23meg]

I pay for lots of Free and open source software.

[KiwiNZ]

I pay for lots of Free and open source software.

Good point

[k2t0f12d]

Free software is licensed under terms that, among other more important things, allow the user to pay what they want for it, including nothing at all. The only possible "pirating" one can do with free software is distribute it in violation of the terms of its license, which can only be done by refusing to offer source code. Commerical software is not the logical opposite of free software. There are both free software and proprietary projects that are commercially developed.

Since coming into the software freedom movement, I have only paid for software licensed under free terms, never for proprietary licenses. Nor will I give money to those that choose to license software with unethical terms again, ever.

[John T. Monkey]

The very first Linux I used was SuSE 9.1, which I paid £30 for.

I was NOT going to uise Window Me any longer and I didnt have a broadband connection at the time.

For my £30 I got 2 CD's (live and install CD) an install manual, 30 days support (if I remember rightly) and a SuSE sticker that is still stuck to the front of my computer. I used it happily for a long time before I upgraded and then tried some different distros.

There is room for paid for software, but we should only have to pay for it if the software manufacturer wants to charge for it.

[hhhhhx]

Wow you finally changed your avatar lol. Anyhoo I believe that even though open source equals free, we still should donate however much we feel is appropriate to the people whose software we use on a regular basis. These guys are very selfless and they deserve our thanks, even if its just $5. Programmers need to eat and drink beer to. :)
lol, ya, forgot mention that :)

[ryukent]

I guess the question is a bit ambiguous. What I really meant to ask is not whether it is right to donate to opensource projects.... of course it is a good idea!!! But... is it right that some organisations force you to pay. As in.... should paying be up to you or do they have a right to forcibly charge you if you use it?

[k2t0f12d]

I guess the question is a bit ambiguous. What I really meant to ask is not whether it is right to donate to opensource projects.... of course it is a good idea!!!

The question is loaded because it presumes that the only mechanism for the exchange of value must also include the exchange of money. That simply cannot be the case, since the free software exists in spite of not relying on that mechanism. It isn't also how people are fundamentally wired to work. People pay willingly for the things they have relationship with. Forced coercion is just an added function that monopolists and oligopolists use to keep people divided, helpless, and credulous to the idea that they have to pay out of chauvinism to that perversion of capitalism.


But... is it right that some organisations force you to pay. As in.... should paying be up to you or do they have a right to forcibly charge you if you use it?

But they can't. It isn't how people are fundamentally wired to behave, and not the direction that the technology is headed. They say they can, and they can lobby until all the legal structures in the world also say they can, and they still can't.

For example, just think for a moment what would happen to Microsoft if the hardware vendors were legally forced to cease bundling Windows with their hardware sales. Then you could have a choice of a ~$400 USD operating system or one for which you could pay whatever you wanted, including nothing at all. If the idea of Microsoft forcing users to pay were even on the same planet as reality, they wouldn't need to worry about bundling and could rely entirely on boxed off-the-shelf sales since there would be no other way for anyone to get the software without paying anyway. But we know that people who use Windows can do so without paying whenever they want to use without paying. Without the hardware vendors bundling, Microsoft would lose the lion's share of their winnings and would be forced to compete against vastly cheaper goods in the free market for the first time in the entire history of their company.

[billgoldberg]

The last time I bought computer software was 5 years ago (and the only time I ever bought software).

I needed to buy Office 2003 student and teacher edition for homework and to learn for my exams.

I will never buy software anymore.

There are other ways to make money from software.