Is open source software really free?
,----[ Quote ]
| All that’s changed is your perceptions of a fabulous product, written with
| freedom in mind, and with the best interests of you in mind. So don’t panic
| if Free software isn’t free monetarily in the bigger picture. The freedom
| that counts the most, is the freedom it gives you to do what you want with
| your software, your way, and with no strings attached.
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http://www.raiden.net/?cat=2&aid=340
It's not about saving money. It's about avoiding that spyware/lockin mechanisms
that Microsoft has begun throwing around for free just to ensure future
revenue (Office, suppression of competition, etc.).
Linux is about control, choice, stability, security and many other things.
Money is just somewhere at the bottom of the advantages worth listing.
Related:
Still no word on cause of WGA outage or Microsoft’s future prevention plans
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft officials say they are continuing to investigate how the outage
| occurred, as well as why someone on the support team inappropriately told
| users the outage wouldn’t be resolved until August 28. If the team already
| knows what happened, so far, it’s not saying.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=677
WGA Meltdown Casts Doubt on Microsoft Reliability
,----[ Quote ]
| Gartner Inc. analyst Michael Silver also dinged Microsoft on the reliability
| issue. "A system that's not totally reliable really should not be so
| punitive," he said. "This issue is not really how long it take for Microsoft
| to fix the problem, but also how when the user can get back on the network to
| revalidate. What happens when someone's about to get on a plane and won't be
| able to revalidate for three days?"
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136451-c,companynews/article.html
Governments Must Reject Gates' $3 Bid to Addict Next Billion PC Users
,----[ Quote ]
| Specifically, Bill Gates, citing China as an example, said:
|
| "Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but
| people don't pay for the software," he said. "Someday they will, though.
| As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours.
| They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to
| collect sometime in the next decade."[1]
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http://www.cybersource.com.au/press/gates_set_to_addict_next_billion.html
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