On 05/02/2014 6:35 AM, Ken Springer wrote:

Technically, all people should be using open-source simply because the
code is transparent. However, people should only be accepting to use
operating systems which are entirely free (as in freedom) as well as
free third-party software, free formats and free codecs. For privacy as
well as security, there are nothing but benefits. However, there are
only a handful of GNU/Linux distributions which are fully free and
they're not that good. A lot of people would have trouble doing what
they're used to doing in Windows and they'd be disgusted at how their
computers have trouble going to and waking from sleep as well as how web
sites dependent on Flash wouldn't work at all.

While your thoughts on free software and operating systems is noble,
it's also a utopia that will never exist.

Oh, I agree with you. That's why I sign every one of my messages
reminding people that GNU/Linux is Communism.

Think about it, the people doing the coding have to eat. If they spent
8 hrs/day doing coding, got paid $0, how do they pay bills? If they
have a job somewhere, then they don't/won't have another 8 hrs. to do
this. If nothing else, the spouse and family won't be there. The coder
has no life.

Agreed again. One GNU/Linux zealot, Bryan Lunduke, learned this the hard
way. He made applications for all systems including GNU/Linux but was
eventually pressured into open-sourcing each one of his products due to
the fact that requiring payment was incompatible with the philosophy of
his operating system of choice. He went ahead and open-sourced but
accepted donations. Within a month or two, he saw his revenue drop
significantly (because even donations are too much for GNU/Linux users)
and he decided to code full-time for iOS where his efforts were
compensated. This is also around the time he left his hosting duty on
the Linux Action Show, probably because he was disillusioned with the
clientele though I notice that he still hasn't learned.

And since they do not get their income from coding, there's 0 incentive
to fix bugs other than pride. This is what I ran into with Libre
Office. And you'll find them with Firefox and Thunderbird if you check
Bugzilla. Bugs go back for years. You'll note in my sig I use FF and
TB, and at the moment, considering getting Office for Mac so I can use
Outlook, and thus avoid a lot of bugs in TB.

I only use Thunderbird because it allows me to send encrypted mail
through GnuPG. In the case of Firefox, I use it because it supports
plug-ins and isn't as insecure as Internet Explorer is. LibreOffice is
my suite of choice because I like the classic interface and believe in
open formats (not necessarily open-source). I will never be dumb enough
to tell you that any of the aforementioned products is devoid of bugs
though.

--
Silver Slimer
GNU/Linux is Communism