Re: The nature of the beast

From: archer@hsc.fr (Vincent Archer)

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Henry Penninkilampi (htp@dove.net.au) wrote:
> Oh, there might be some rich kids who were born into wealth and, as a
> result, don't have to worry about earning a living.  These sorts of people
> are the most likely source of consistently GOOD free software - they have
> the technological resources, the private education, and the time.  A less
> consistent source of GOOD free software is the middle-class,
> socially-challenged geek.  These sorts of people tend to have limited
> funds (but just enough to get by), a public education, and plenty of free
> time because they don't have (what society calls) a life.  (Members of
> this latter group, by the way, are almost totally responsible for Linux -
> a free operating system, one of the best (IMHO) Unix variants around, and
> a shining example of open-source software.)
>
> Apart from these socio-economic groups, you're not going to squeeze much
> out of the rest of society, who are all to busy earning a living to spend
> thousands of hours building a game to give away for nothing.

That's my last intervention in this thread, because it's going the
flamewar way very quickly... Either that, or you're trolling. Should have
known it...

If you want to imply that you need to be rich and without need of
employment or a total social misfit to produce free software, then you
are either sadly deluded about the whole free software world, or you are
working for Microsoft :)

I see a large number of people writing consistently free software, of
good quality, and they do not fit into your categories. 80% of the people
in the free software area are in universities - you know, places where
they pay you to create ideas, tools and methods, *and* donate them to the
community, or - for students - you have plenty of time to experiment and
learn, while working on bettering your skills for the future.

(gee, if Linus Torvalds had no life, how does he managed time to start the
 second representative of the next generation of great kernel writers...)
--
Vincent ARCHER  				Email: archer@frmug.org

References

Re: The nature of the beast
Andrei Jirnyi <jonn@i-connect.ru>
Wed, 17 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Andrei Jirnyi <jonn@i-connect.ru>
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: The nature of the beast
Andrei Jirnyi <jonn@i-connect.ru>
Wed, 17 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Andrei Jirnyi <jonn@i-connect.ru>
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000