How can Linux change a way of thinking ?

[Pablo_Escobar]

First of all - I live in Poland. M$ products prices compared to wages here are extremely high.
I (as most of people in Poland, and some other countries I believe) have been using a pirated Window$. (The only M$ product I did pay was the original Win95, back in 95).
Later on I thought, what the heck, why should I pay for anything when it's freely available on the net (via P2P). So then went on the games, music, films. And I was happy with it till the day I started using Ubuntu, and started to dig deeper into OSS. I started to think about it, and the more I thought about it the more it got to me that it was simply wrong.
First went off my games CD collection and ISO images, then off went the downloaded films, then off went the music I hadn't ripped from my original CDs.
Last, but not least, I deleted the XP off my hard drive.

Linux (Ubuntu) changed my way of thinking. Now if I'll want to play a game, listen to some tune, or watch a movie I'll pay for it.
I'm getting Diablo II with LOD in the end of the month for a great discount price :) (Battlenet here I come)
Heck, if I can't afford it - I'll wait for it !! :D

The last thing I'd like to do is to give something back to the Linux community, from which we all get so much for FREE.
I'm thinking of setting up a dev Dapper parition and helping with debugging it, to be polished at the release date.
Also if I will have some spare time, I'll refresh my programming skills and setup a project I've had in mind for some time :)

A big Thank You to all the wonderfull people that make it possible to use an OS and a great deal of software for free :)

[reedlaw]

I feel the same way. Using FOSS has strengthened my integrity on not using pirated material. Just think, if everyone was more honest about paying for non-free software then the software companies would not have to be so strict with instituting measures such as DRM to prevent piracy. Maybe the price of movies, music, and games would even go down when there is no one pirating them for the companies to complain about.

[Kvark]

I feel the same way too. Before trying Ubuntu I never looked at licence agreements and almost never payed for something that could be copied. Now when I know that there are gratis & Free aternatives I pay attention to and respect licence agreements. I mostly use Free software, listen to web radio (without ripping it) plus Free music and watch movies on TV. If some propriarity software is so much better then the Free altarnatives that I just gotta have it, then it is worth paying for. If some movie is so appealing that I can't wait until it might be shown TV then it is worth seeing at the cinema or renting (without ripping it).

[slux]

The funny thing is that this whole thing really got started because some people (http://www.gnu.org) thought the whole concept of non-free software was unethical. If you ask the FSF, pirating is a smaller wrong than keeping the people from touching the code and not allowing them to give the software to other people who need it.

[Miguel]

Hi guys,

While I haven't downloaded either films or music (possibly because I have no net at home, just at university), it is true that I am lucky enough not to suffer from lack of money. But in my case Linux has also affected the way I look at software. I mean, I cannot imagine myself using a pirated Photoshop when I can be using a totally legal little program called The GIMP. And Wilbur looks cool!!!. What I mean is that Linux has made me reconsider these things called licenses. Just thinkig about all the free software out there (and there are some exquisite programs) makes me say: WHOAAAA Big thank you!.

Also, I am converting my girlfriend to more libre software. She uses Firefox, Thunderbird, she downloaded VLC... Heck, I might convince her to install linux one of these days. I just need a couple more of good screensavers for xscreensaver. Now, I will be happy if I can convince her that GIMP is not that hard.

Miguel

PS: I am somewhat of a music freak. I will not watch ripped or illegally copied films, because of the sound. Heck, I find sound to be the most appalling feature of cinema. Another point is that I was hughely dissappointed at U2 concert at San Sebastian because of the messy sound. And have never ripped a classical music CD. You know, living outside home, ripping my CD's into my laptop makes traveling every week with lots of music soo much easier. But I still doubt the quality of classical music OGG's. Will have to give FLAC a go.

[Miguel]

I almost forgot it!!!

Last week I edited my first GPL-ed program because it worked better for me that way. As someone once said, change the recipe to suit your tastes. I coud have never done it with propietary software.

[Brunellus]

I have found myself far less likely to pirate if I know there are Free (gratis & libre) alternatives.

For me, the revelation was the GIMP. Much better than the gratis alternatives on the market. Powerful enough for my purposes, and Free!

Once I started using the GIMP on windows, I was eager to go to Linux.

[hizaguchi]

The same has happened to me. My laptop is running a legal copy of XP that came with it, but I've replaced all of my shady programs with free alternatives (GIMP, OO.org, etc.). It feels good to know that everything on my computer is legal.