All Things Microsoft > Microsoft Software
I have a diferent point of view
worker201:
Mostly I was referring to the kind of shareware where it works just fine (not crippled in any way), and you are encouraged to pay a purchase fee, which is little more than a donation to the developers. When I pay that fee, I am just saying thanks.
Let's look at the other side. I know tons of people who go to a gnu ftp site and just download away, greedy for free software. These people never write articles or help newbs or even say "thank you ever so much for your time" when posting to a support mailing list. So free/open software doesn't automatically make a good community. I help out where I can because I appreciate all the people out there who helped me out. I would be lost if it wasn't for kind people at gcc, libpng, and mozilla. I want to return the favor. But not everyone is righteous or just when it comes to the computer.
Anyway, you do what you can to help out. I don't see anything wrong with paying for software, if it is good and reasonably priced. $130 for OSX, $100 for Illustrator CS (educational!), these are investments I am willing to make.
Ah, capitalism. Well, as long as we are stuck with it, we might as well do the best we can with it.
flap:
quote:Donating $20 to the Mozilla project and paying $20 for a piece of shareware that I think is really cool are pretty much the same thing.
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The important distinction to make between paying for proprietary software and paying for free software (whether the payment in this case is for a boxed set of software etc. or a donation) is that what you're paying for in each case is very different. Traditional, proprietary software licencing is based on the principle of charging for the use of the software, not the acquisition of it or the work done in producing it. When you buy a boxed Mandrake set, pay a free software developer for some work or you donate $20 to Mozilla, you're either paying for a tangible product or you're acknowledging the work that's been done to produce some software. In any case your payment (or lack of) has absolutely no bearing on your use of the software. Free software is free because you're not restricted in your use or empowering of others to make use of it. When you pay for a shareware licence you're buying a restricted right to simply use the software.
I don't know what your definition of Shareware is, but as I understand it it's software that's released free of charge on a temporary basis but that you're expected to pay for if you wish to use it after a certain period. If you're thinking that paying for shareware software is voluntary then you're probably referring to freeware whose authors ask for, but don't require, a donation; or "donorware".
quote:The battle for me isn't so much about commercial vs. open source
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Agreed; it isn't about either of those for me. It's about proprietary vs. free software.
Laukev7:
quote: When you pay for a shareware licence you're buying a restricted right to simply use the software.
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That claim doesn't make much sense. Your right to use a software can't be 'restricted' since you didn't have it before acquiring it.
skyman8081:
And I don't care if it is free/open/OSS/GPL/BSD/WTF/BBQ
Laukev7:
quote:Originally posted by Agent Sauron:
And I don't care if it is free/open/OSS/GPL/BSD/WTF/BBQ
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Me neither. That rhetoric is getting old.
[ September 07, 2004: Message edited by: Laukev7 / BOB ]
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