Subject: Re: Kent, why do you use free software From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net> Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 03:44:23 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3226535078056817@naggum.net> * Nils Kassube <nika@kassube.de> | If they aren't able to produce something better than a group of | volunteers then they don't deserve to stay in business. I wish it were that simple. Many software products are much better than any commercial entitty has produced in the same category, for instance GNU Emacs, because you have had so many volunteers over such a long time. | Sorry, I don't understand you. With Open Source software you can either | fix the problem yourself _or_ pay someone to fix it for you. With | proprietary software you are the hostage of the vendor. This is a curious way to look at the customer/vendor relationship. I keep seeing from people who favor open source of free software, but not so much from those who pay for their software. It is not proprietary software that holds you hostage, it is your own attitude towards it, and it is a rather curious attitude that just because you feel a certain way, all others must feel the same way about the same things. | If they change directions or fill for Chapter 11, you are in big trouble. Why? What part of the software you have purchased self-destructs when that happens? | When you've been hurt often enough by tool vendors, you will understand | why many developers prefer Open Source tools. It appears that many people have a problem learning from pain -- they tend to learn the wrong thing and are satisifed with any change that they think _should_ reduce pain, even if it does not, and even if it is not specific about what it prevents. Avoding pain is so important to some people that they even avoid clearly reasonable and good things, too, because they refuse to look into the exact cause of the pain. "Once bitten, twice shy" is such an understatement. If you get hurt the same way several times, there is something wrong with your ability to learn from experience. I therefore consider it extremely unreasonable and not particularly intelligent to "learn" to avoid something _completely_ just because it can be painful in some respects. I mean, some people have a such a fear of being perforated by needles and injected with things that they do not just stay short of heroin, but also medical treatment for serious illnesses, avoid vaccinations to prevent them, etc. This is not smart. Preferring Open Source because you have been hurt is the wrong reason. As has been attempted explained here, you cut yourself off from your own future if you avoid making money on your own work simply because you have been screwed by others who failed in their attempts. /// -- In a fight against something, the fight has value, victory has none. In a fight for something, the fight is a loss, victory merely relief.