Disk on Key slowly getting smaller

[Michael Leone]

Dotan Cohen wrote:
>
> 
>>> It's FUD like you mention that prevents businesses from porting
>>> software to Linux,
>> No, that's not FUD.  Individual linux users almost never pay for software,
>> and businesses that _do_ depend on Linux never expect to make their profit
>> from selling the software itself.  We _can't_ depend on that, because so
>> much of our own code base is Free software, so we look to other revenue
>> streams.  Corporations might pay for Linux software, but they're the
>> problem in getting software ported to Linux - because they worry about
>> service, which is oddly the part that _can_ be profitable in the Linux
>> world.
> 
> While I do agree that it seems sensible that many Linux users do not
> pay for software, declaring that _most_ Linux users do not pay for
> software is "slashdot comments" research: an educated guess. It sounds
> good, but have you checked? Companies like Google, NASA and Disney pay
> quite a lot for Linux software.

Quite probably they do. But most users of Linux are not employees of 
those firms. The majority of Linux users are home or personal users. And 
as my own educated guess, those folks don't usually pay money for their 
software.

> Is the reason that people use Linux because the software is free, or
> because they like a secure, stable OS that just so happens is easy to
> use and looks good too? The fact that the software is free is just a
> nice bonus. 

I think you may find that this you overestimate the appeal of of no cost 
(in monetary terms) software. It's certainly not the only or even most 
compelling reason, but it's not a "oh, and btw, the software doesn't 
cost money, either".