RE: Money for Nothing & Chicks for Free?

[Juan Andres Alvarez Valenzuela]

this it is a clear and very good mail.


thanks Rick

----- Original Message -----
From: Rick Osborne (Mojo) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: CF-Talk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; 'Peter Theobald' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
'Hoffman, Joe (CIT)' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2000 2:52 PM
Subject: RE: Money for Nothing & Chicks for Free?


> Someone going by the nym "Hydra" said:
>
> >I continue to be mystified by these kinds of discussions. Would
> >someone take a moment to explain this phenomenon?
>
> Kindly.
>
> >If someone really writes a "FreeCF" and the Allaire Corp. goes
> >down the tubes, then will we really all be better off?
>
> What what?  Who said anything about Allaire going down the tubes?  Who
said
> anything about trying to put Allaire out of business?  Certainly not me.
I
> happen to *like* CF.  While I'm glad that my employer has to pay for it
(and
> Studio) and not me, I certainly don't want Allaire to go away any time
soon.
>
> >When all software is OpenSource, free, etc. then how do
> >developers make a living?
>
> You know, it's funny you asked this.  I was just having this discussion
with
> a friend of mine last night down at IHOP.  (Mmmm, blueberry blintzes.
Num.)
> We came to the conclusion that our society is trained to think that things
> that you don't pay for have no value.  Sad.  Very sad.  Let me educate you
a
> bit on how the majority of the free software (note the lack of
> capitalization) industry works.  When someone writes a chunk of code and
> gives it away (for free), it normally goes with an understanding that it
is
> actually *unsupported*.  You can have it for free, and use it for free,
but
> don't come whining to me if it breaks.
>
> Let's take the most prominant example: Linux.  Most versions of Linux are
> available for download at no cost.  The Red Hat distribution is probably
the
> most popular (last time I checked) and you can download it from their web
> site.  However, and this is the catch, if you don't pay for it then it is
> unsupported.  Where does Red Hat make their money?  Support contracts.  I,
> as a single user, have no problem with running an unsupported copy of Red
> Hat Linux at home.  My employer, like most other companies, is a bit hazy
on
> the whole unsupported thing.  So, they are willing to shell out the cash
> just for the peace of mind in knowing that if they are needed, somewhere
> operators are standing by.  Have you ever seen how much Microsoft charges
> for support?  It's obscene.  The $1K for the OS is trvial by comparison.
> Support is where the money is.
>
> Even with a FreeCF, Allaire would still be around.  Why?  Companies like
> having people they can point the finger at when something goes wrong.
>
> Getting back on topic ...
>
> Peter Teobald said:
> >If the original poster is really serious about writing a FreeCF,
> >why doesn't he make better use of his valuable time and join the
> >PHP project?
>
> I can think of a couple of my personal motivations:
>
> 1. Because it's there.  (read: because I'm a coder geek and it sounds like
> fun to me)
> 2. Because if I want to run CF at my house so I can mess around with it
> off-hours, I don't want to have to shell out $5K of my own money.
> 3. Because it'd be nice to point out a bug in CF to Allaire and then say
> "the FreeCF folks had it fixed in a week, what's your deal?".  (read:
> competition is highly motivating)
> 4. Because it would then open the door for companies who could make a
living
> at supporting FreeCF.  (By giving away software you'd be creating jobs?
> Yep.  Cool, huh?)
> 5. Because maybe, just maybe, it'd get to the point where FreeCF was
> actually more useful to me than CF.
> 6. Really cool bragging rights.
>
> Why not PHP or Mozilla or something?  I did Mozilla.  (Look at the list of
> names of people who've submitted code.  I'm in there.)  PHP just doesn't
> interest me.  It's a rhetorical question, but what makes PHP a more
valuable
> project than a FreeCF?
>
> Joe Hoffman writes:
> >>Allaire gets how many thousand dollars per copy of CF?
> >You say that as if maybe there is something wrong with that.
>
> Didn't mean to sound like I think that there is anything *inherently*
wrong
> with it.  I do think $5K is a bit outrageous, but there are more than
enough
> arguments about that one.  Definitely don't want to start one here.  :)
>
> >It's the basis of a capitalist, free market economy.  You
> >work, you make the money ... not the motherland.
>
> Oh, definitely.  I'm a capitalist-pig-dog like any other red-blooded
> American.  :)  However ...
>
> >From what I understand from your post ... you want an independent
solution
>
> Precisely.  I want competition.  Remember that money is only half of
> capitalism - competition is the other half.  ;)
>
> (By the way, I'm quite amused to see a post about capitalism coming from a
> .gov address.  Had a good chuckle at that one.)
>
> Summing up:
> Would a FreeCF put Allaire out of business?  Nope.
> Would it annoy the stuffing out of them (especially their tech support)?
> Hopefully.
> What is the primary benefit of having a FreeCF?  Freedom of choice.
>
> Yes, I really am this naive and optimistic.  No, I haven't lived with my
> parents in quite some time.  Yes, I do write quite a bit of software that
I
> give away for free and I still manage to make quite a decent living.  You
> don't have to screw people over to get ahead in life.  Really, you don't.
>
>
>
> -Rick
>
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