Why Linux Doesn't Spread -the Curse of Being Free

[Garritan]

Here is an interesting blog about Why Linux Doesn't Spread -the Curse of Being Free:

http://blog.anamazingmind.com/2008/0...-of-being.html

[d.e.cox]

It's an interesting read, but I don't really buy the line of argument.

Snipped from the blog-post:
""""""

• Linux is being offered for free. Good.
• He can get a pirated copy of Windows from his friend. Also for free. Good.
• But Windows is sold for over three hundred dollars, while Linux is offered for free.

Here's what Compy McNewb sees. He can get both OS's for free. But one of them is worth over three hundred dollars, while the other one is worth nothing.
"""""""
So the average person actually *feels* better about stealing the software, and that's why they use windows?

The article also argues that people don't value what comes too easily. True enough, but anyone who has tried to get reasonable multimedia support going in linux knows that free and easy are very different things.

Linux is my only OS, and has been for a long time. My reasons are part technical, part ethical. The technical comes because things are a bit harder, typically you do need to poke under the hood a bit to get it working just right. But with that comes a sense of understanding and ownership. I find that part fun.

Ethical may be overstating it a bit, but the ability to view, modify, and redistribute source code is an important freedom. It allows an individual to realize something that would otherwise take a slew of people working together to accomplish.... a little bit like the power of a sample library....

dave

[Garritan]

So the average person actually *feels* better about stealing the software, and that's why they use windows?

Dave,

It certainly is an interesting read. I don't agree that a person feels better about stealing.

It seems the point of the blog is that there is perceived value in Windows having a retail price set so high but they get it effectively for free. Reputedly 9 out of 10 copies of Windows are sold preinstalled on new computers and many consumers think Windows is essentially free.

Gary Garritan