Re: [U2] FOSS
Tony Gravagno <3xk547o02 <at> sneakemail.com>
2013-05-03 20:11:46 GMT
From: Wjhonson
> Tony, the link I posted has tons of free code.
Just no MV BASIC implementation. So the tons of free code there has nothing to do with your suggestion that
"someone" write something new.
> So "giving it away for free" is not anything new, although I know that
> attacking that idea is your own personal hobby horse :)
I manage and/or contribute to freeware on Google Code, Codeplex, Sourceforge, GitHub, PickWiki, my own
freeware page, and elsewhere. I also provide occasional forum support for various freeware projects and
Android apps. It's easily evident that I don't have any axe to grind against freeware.
> I was just suggesting maybe there could also be a BASIC algorithm
> listed on that link, along with all the other ones listed.
And I just have a visceral reaction when people _assume_ that something of value is going to be written on
uncompensated time, given away for free, and then maintained at no cost by people who obviously derive
commercial benefit.
You mistake my pro-FOSS comments as attacks. The problem with the FOSS model is that it's horrendously
abused by people who take but don't give back, by people who assume that there is no cost in terms of time or
contributions, let alone money) for what they consume, but people who casually suggest that someone else
will provide slave labor for the benefit of all. The FOSS world is a mass graveyard of dead projects
abandoned by altruistic developers who've been abused by hoards of people who love their software
creations - and when one developer is beaten down the locusts fly off to the next project. Our own community
has hundreds of offerings that have suffered this fate. I support the model enough to point out its faults
in the hope that good software doesn't go away because of the propa
gation of this inane idea that somehow it's all "free" - as in beer.
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