Bryan Carbonnell
Bryan_Carbonnell at cbc.ca
Wed Apr 7 06:08:28 CDT 2004
I'm not sure a service can be related to a product, but lt's try :) The hair dresser charges you $75 to do your hair colouring. He aslo goes to the local Seniors home and colours the hair of the elderly ladies there for free because they can't get around as easily as you can. He is volunteering his time to do it. Why does he do it when he can use that time to make more money? He's a nice guy, it was the home that home that took care of his elderly parents, he want's to look good and using it as an advertising ploy, it's the right thing to do? Any of these, all or these none of these? Who knows, but he does it anyway. Now apply this to software. Why do companies, and people, make their software open source? They have a philosophical belief that it should be available, it will help a certain population/sector, it showcases their other products, it showcases their talents. Any of these, all of these, none of these? Who knows but it happens. Why did Lembit donate code to the BEU? Why did Andy and Reuben start to work on it? Why did I help in the end? I can't speak for the others, but I did it because I believe that it may help DBA become more visible by producing a world class product, which will make this be *THE* place to be, not that it isn't that already :). I also like pushing the limits of my knowledge and talents, and the BEU certainly did that :) Plus it is also a tool that can, and has helped, other developers, and I like helping folks. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that for every dozen different open source applications, there are 2 dozen different reasons why the author(s) decided to make it open source. None are right, none are worng, they just are. I don't think that this really captures the point I was going after, but it's the best I can do to explain it at 6:30 in the morning :) Bryan Carbonnell bryan_carbonnell at cbc.ca >>> ssharkins at bellsouth.net 04/06/04 11:13PM >>> Yea, but the thing is, open source doesn't HAVE to be free, as in no cost, but free as in source code availability. I think that is part that is the hard part to understand, or at least grasp. Free doesn't necissicarily mean no cost. =============Perhaps I do make too much of it -- you could be right. It's hard to apply it to my own work -- it doesn't really relate. I'll repeat myself -- sometimes that helps. :) I pay the hair guy $75 to color my gray hair. I pay it because he's good -- hair looks natural and healthy. He doesn't sell me the coloring and give me instructions so I can do it myself. Now, I realize that doesn't really relate in the same way, but it's the best I can come up with. :) Susan H. -- _______________________________________________ AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com