On Mon, Dec 18, 2006 at 01:33:06PM +0000, Nic James Ferrier wrote: > Chris Croughton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > Free as in freedom or as in beer? I agree that many people wouldn't > > have got started if they'd had to buy the software (that was one of my > > main motivations for starting to use GCC, that it didn't cost me > > anything), but how many of them actually go so far as to modify and > > improve the code? Your "a lot" could mean anything over about 10. > > 1000s if not 100s of thouands. > > Look at RT for GCC or the Changlog. Just a year's worth includes many, > many people.
I see nothing in there which says who got started because of Free Software, most of the names I recognise seem to have been software professionals long before there was any such thing. > > You would buy your spares and servicing from unqualified people? Remind > > me not to travel in any vehicle you've had serviced! > > There are lots of people like this. I know 10 people who have built > their own cars (from land rovers to beach buggys). Surely you are well > aware of automechanics being a popular hobby? It was, it seems a lot less so now because of regulations. Even I used to do a lot of my own servicing (even took an SU twin carb to bits, cleaned it and put it back together, and it worked -- I'm fine with electrics but I am not at all mechanically talented or experienced) but I wouldn't be allowed to do it now. And I wouldn't let most of them work on my car or supply my spares. Not that authorised dealers are always trustworthy, but they can be (and are) sued for failing to do the work correctly (and any blame rests on them, whereas if you tell the police "a mate did it for me" they'll blame you for it anyway). Hmm, perhaps there is a comparison there. Cars started off as complicated things which only a few people understood, then became common enough that a lot of ordinary people did their own servicing, and then regulations came in with the mass market and most people not knowing how to use (let alone service) them properly. Yes, I suspect that we are indeed seeing the end of the mass market general-purpose computer and a rise of more specialised machines, but I also see this as inevitable (and given the time wasted by the millions who don't know anything about their PCs this is not a bad thing in my view). I mean why would anyone want to run Linux on an X-Box, apart from the challenge? I can buy a much faster PC for the same price. If I want the challenge there's plenty of other platforms which are more useful (or I could back-port it to a MicroVAX, which would be fun although not very useful). Chris C _______________________________________________ Fsfe-uk mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsfe-uk
