RE: FN-FORUM: help - OT

date posted 5th February 2008 22:27

Wise Tony wrote:
> The best Open Source Software is free as in free speech, not free =
beer.

Quite right. Often I'm perfectly happy to pay money for software, but =
object
to the commercial overtones of many non-OSS offerings:

a) Excessive price tags for popular entrenched software (e.g., =
Photoshop).
b) Deliberate and arbitrary feature restrictions unless you upgrade to =
the
next super-dupa edition up.
c) Reluctance to take on-board and act on user feedback (e.g., bug
reports).
d) Memory-hogging, crash-inducing (e.g., SafeDisc) software protection
schemes that punish legitimate customers, whilst providing little =
obstacle
to pirates.
e) Forced paid upgrades (e.g., via file format compatibility).
f) Abandonment in the event that the developer loses interest (OSS can =
be
forked).
g) Proprietary, deliberately obscure file formats and protocols, =
forcing
lock-in.
=20
Rant over - I just spilt tea on a laptop and trashed the LCD, so am =
grumpy!

Cheers, Ben