Re: A Linux Today story has been mailed to you!

[Biju Chacko <biju@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Apr 16, 2001 at 03:04:29PM +0530, Kingsly John wrote:
> On Mon, 16 Apr 2001, Biju Chacko wrote:
> 
>  |I think the model starts to break down when the ppl who _take_ start
>  |to out number the ppl who _give_. That is, when there are far more ppl
>  |just downloading isos with out sending patches and bug reports than
>  |there are developers and responsible users; then our model stops being
>  |self-sustaining.
> 
> No I don't think so... if a company with like M$FT could take control of
> the world market... without a *single* user ever sending in a patch!! why
> should we be worried about users not sending in patches ???

Microsoft prosecutes ppl who dont pay for the software!

Look, no company can survive giving away something for nothing. The rationale
behind OSS is that the ppl who download it for free will pay for it in patches,
bug reports, docs or what have you. By returning _something_ to the community,
the costs are shared too. It works on the honour system -- nobody insists that
you do so.

But if the majority of customers neither return to the community or purchase the
for-profit value additions, then where does that leave the Open Source 
commercial company? They do not get paid _and_ their development costs are not
being reduced by community patches.

End result -- bankruptcy.

Biju

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Biju Chacko        | biju@xxxxxxxxxxx (work)            
Exocore Consulting | biju_chacko@xxxxxxxxx (play)
Bangalore, India   | http://www.exocore.com
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