[ubuntu-uk] [Fwd: Re: [Ubuntu-advertising] Research required ...]

[Grant Sewell]

On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 15:23:50 +0000
alan c wrote:

> On 28/12/10 09:53, Barry Drake wrote:
> 
> > In fact they will be very surprised not to
> > be asked to pay!
> 
> This is a recurring and apparent problem. A free app here or there 
> from an enthusiast group is one thing, maybe used in Windows, but a 
> complete freedom of a complete system, which one is going to rely on 
> for stable reliable trusted, ongoing use? How can that be free? Why
> is it free? Are they nuts?

I usually take the explanatory approach of football.  Most people,
whether they are "into" football or not, will appreciate that many of
the upper league's football players are very good at what they do...
and that some of them play matches for charitable causes (ie they do so
for no monetary gain of their own) and yet it doesn't mean they
instantly become rubbish football players.  The same goes for a large
portion of the Open Source / Free Software developer community - many
are software developers by trade and make their living doing just that;
they also happen to do the same thing for free for the benefit of the
community - it doesn't mean the software they produce for free is of
any lesser quality than that which they are getting paid to produce.

Grant.