On 06/07/2016 06:59 PM, Simon Hobson wrote:
> Steve Litt <slitt@???> wrote:
>
>> I'm all for corporations making money. I get paid, why shouldn't they?
> Indeed. I find it "interesting" to hear some people suggesting they shouldn't have to pay for anything - and think that if anyone suggested they shouldn't get paid for whatever they do/produce then they might have a different view !
> Also bear in mind that a lot of what is "free" is only free and there because "someone else" actually paid for it - just look at how many of the major projects are led/staffed by people employed by various technology companies to produce the "free" stuff.

Hold on. I must interject.

Not all programmers are equal. Some are so skilled that to write up a
piece of software and maintain it just for themselves, is not as
difficult as it is for someone like me. If a hobbyist or professional
cannot get the parts s/he needs because the information on the package
is incorrect in some way, then some resort to DIY. It is this group of
DIY hobbyists and professionals and their vision gave us open source
software.

Others in other replies have mentioned some of the pioneers. I respect
and admire them and their fortitude.

It doesn't much to do with producing something directly for sale. The
motivation to produce superior parts might be to enable one to do ones
job better, but those parts were not originally for sale. Redhat is
taking those and selling support for them. Great. Nice. Good. But then
when they start the systemd BS, all the comments about them having
greedy ulterior motives start to make sense. The freeloaders will never
care. After all, they are comfortable with the theft of software.

>
> Eg, while we may deride RH (especially over SystemD), it's true that their paying customers do indirectly pay for some of the stuff we use for "free". I personally know someone employed by them to work on virtualisation - IIRC he works on improvements to things like Qemu.

Yes. My brother works for RH and feeds his children with that money. I
still don't care for RH. I never have and never will. RPM hell may have
been intentional. Just like MS doesn't fix horrible bugs because they
make good money off of support.

Knowing someone in an organization doesn't make it a good organization.

>
> Of course, we know that a lot of people work on this in their own time - but we assume that they are still either employed, or getting a pension, or getting some other form of support in order to pay the bills, keep a roof over their head, and put food on the table.

My first paragraph applies. Only freeloaders are asking for a handout
and those people do not matter to us anyway. Money is no justification
for nefarious action.

My biggest gripe with systemd: How many man hours have been wasted and
will be wasted. There is an lack of wisdom in that project.

Simon