I always wonder about this, PHP, Apache, MySQL, Linux......
All of them are free because they are open source programs (can view the program's source code). But I never did understand why they are free....
To me, Linux is not an easy OS to create, since it's so hard to create and so many people use Linux, why don't they charge people instead of free. What people create such powerful program for free?
Stupid MicroSoft, charges on everything, but I never pay for anything *hahaha*
if they did charge who would get the money? would it be divided between the people he coded it or thouse who owned the most importnant/most lines?
thats probably why
scroots
What people create such powerful program for free?
People who find it more rewarding to:
- code a 'powerful' program
- help out other people
- supplie their own software that had some 'peer reviews' so that they know what's going on and have the possability to modify/enhance it
- give everyone the same possibilitys, regardles of their budget
- try to make something better then the mainstream
- offer other people the choice and get satisfaction from the fact that they were chosen (like the Berlin deal where Microsoft is going to loose out on some major bucks)
- create programs that makes the web a nicer place to browse around on (i peronally would like to redo a whole lott of sites for free, cause i think they are badly developped and frustrating to use, and i think there are many peeps around here that think the same)
- set new standards and force commecial compagnies to become better
then to get a few bucks.
Maybe do some pro bone work, and you'll see what fun it is to offer a good product to an organisation or small compagnie that otherwise wouldn't be able to participate in the web-world. :D
I've read Linus Torvalds book "Just for fun". The title stands for itself. In the book, Linus reports that he gets often asked why he released his OS as open-source and not as a commercial product. His answer was something along the lines of "I don't know. It simply didn't come to me as an idea. I was used to use much source code for free and felt like eventually contributing something myself, so to give sth. back to the community."
Pure, simple, beautiful altruism at it's best, if I recall that passage correctly.
Keep in mind that sometimes you don't release a software package, but rather start an evolving process. Rasmus Lerdorf, the creator of PHP, had at the begining nothing more than a bunch of C programs to help him manage his website. In fact, he is often quotes that "PHP wasn't designed to be a language at all". It was only later, when more people got interested in that project and the people from Zend rewrote the engine, that PHP hit the masses. At that point, it was a movement, and impossible to say "Uh, since now you've got to pay for it".
And don't confuse open-source with free of charge. Although many kind of software is really both, take MySQL for example. They have a GPLed version and a commercial one, if you intend to bundle MySQL in a commercial application. Plus, they seem to make a decent buck on support and consulting, that's maybe even more interesting in the long run than collecting the payment for a closed-source shrinkwrap product.
Just my 0.02 €
because people like cheap skates like me :D
also, if you look at microsoft, they recieve news they have a bug in one of their programs, they then have to pay the coder to fix it then release the service pack. that takes time. where as open source, you recieve a bug and it can take afew hours to hammer it out.