[ncolug] Re: free
- From: "M. Knisely" <charon79m@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: ncolug@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:37:11 -0500
Well, I've stayed away from this long enough that those thinking of posting
would have had their say by now.... so it's rant time for me.
I'd not pay one cent. Now, why is that? Is it because it's not worth it,
NO! Quite the contrary, I run Ubuntu because I feel it is the most capable
and well suited solution for my needs. It is the platform off which I
launch amazing tools that set me apart from most others in my field. Let me
say that a little more clearly; there is little about me specifically that
makes me any better at my job than most... I just carry the finest set of
tools available. To me, Ubuntu has become so valuable that there is no
price.
Now then, why wouldn't I pay for it, well because there are other options.
If Ubuntu became a pay-for-only distro, like RedHat... I'd just choose the
"CentOS" equivalent. That's the beauty of FOSS. I could run any of the
myriad of derivatives (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DerivativeTeam/Derivatives)...
or hey, I could go upstream to Grandpa Debian (no flames please, I mean this
in a strictly paternal and reverential way).
Now, would I advise others to pay whatever the fee is? Perhaps. See, I'm a
self sufficient guy when it comes to my Linux boxes. I can pretty much
figure out whatever issue I might run up against... maybe with a little help
from Google and the NCOLUG list. I realise, however, this is not the case
with everyone. So, installation support may be of value to others... and
that support is worth real money.
Now, does it make sense for a company to pay for their copy of Ubuntu.
Here's where things get fun, and I'm guessing where you really wanted to go
with this question. NO, I do not believe that most companies should pay for
their Ubuntu. Now, why do I say this? Well, most companies are SMBs. If
they are hosting their own servers, then they probably have a geeky guy like
me that can handle the issues that might arise, or ought to pay a support
company that can. If they're ahead of the curve, they're probably hosting
all their stuff out in "the cloud" somewhere; and that service provider is,
and probably should be, paying for his Ubuntu servers. The enterprise
support is where Ubuntu's parent company, Canonical, provides real value.
Ok, now I need to address one other side of this, and it doesn't fit well
into my narrative I had going above. This is the issue of "supporting the
distribution" by paying for a copy. I see this on the surface as a good
idea, and I'm not really against it... but I don't really place this in the
category of "paying," To me, this is a charitable gift and should not be
called anything different.
See, the value of and FOSS increases with each user that installs it. This
seems a little counter intuitive at first, as with commercial software every
fee install devalues it. The reason that FOSS is the other way around is
because with each person, new itches are discovered. Each new person using
it makes it just that much batter. I'm no coder, but I've submitted bugs,
and I've sure been vocal in forums about what I do and don't like. (Like how
I HATE the new Gnome click on your username "face browser" feature!!!) A
quick google search reveals that others hate it too, and they're going to
build in a simple radial button to disable it in the next release. VALUE
WENT UP without a cent changing hands.
It is exactly for this reason that you can't look at FOSS as though it is
some tangible asset. There is no supply/demand dynamic here. There is no
"how much would you be willing to spend" because with FOSS you're not
limited by your lack of money, nor are you helped by your abundance. The
playing field is level; we all have access to the best software.... who wins
and who loses depends only on who can use the tools he has the best. I for
one hope to become a master with this fine set of tools, what about you?
Mike Knisely
On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 8:13 AM, Larry D <larry@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> If you had to pay money for Ubuntu on your desktop, how much would you be
> willing to spend?
>
>
> --
> "Life is too short, to spend it waiting for slow hardware to do
> something..." -Dev
>
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