Comments on: Stallman: Free software Is Not About Saving Money

By: jay

jay — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:42:21 +0000

Another way to look at it is that you, as the user (single user, or small/big company), can hire a developer to fix or modify the software for you.

This is usually not possible with proprietary software, where instead you have to appeal to the original developer to have them fix or modify it for you.

By: g:)

g:) — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:22:45 +0000

Andrew – a take on this could be that a user is empowered to make changes to the software via the user community.

Frequently a bug is experienced by many people – when many people discuss the bug (on fora for example) it is more likely to be fixed in a timely fashion than if it is submitted to a company who are most likely working on the next version of the software and have little interest (they have the cash already) in a bug in code that may be rewritten in the next version.

By: Andrew Ross

Andrew Ross — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:41:30 +0000

“Free software is under the control of its users. Proprietary software puts the users under the control of the developer.”

I must not be understanding this point as it seems to me that in practical terms free software *users* are just as dependent on free software developers. Only when users are both users and developers are they somewhat liberated. However, who has time to modify and maintain their own 25M lines of free software?

I’d like to understand why the above statement might be true. Help me please.

By: Terence Phillip Curran

Terence Phillip Curran — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:30:32 +0000

Compare Openoffice with Microsoft Office. Last time I checked MS Office distribution requires a DVD as its in excess of 700MB, OpenOffice is about 130MB. If you find a bug in MS Office how long does it take to be fixed – a new version of MS Office for which you again pay out ££££’s. A bug in OpenOffice, fixed in a matter of months, you can then download the fixed software for nothing!

By: alf

alf — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:26:47 +0000

@DoppelFrog, you seem to have missed the point. Try reading the article once again. And avoid ad hominem attacks.

By: DoppelFrog

DoppelFrog — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:09:36 +0000

Saving money (i.e. with free software) is the one and only point for the companies who are making that switch