Re: [Trisquel-users] Trisquel 5.0 LTS alpha images ready for testing

[magicbanana]

Talking about money to "justify" Free software is missing its point. Users of  
Free softwares (they say "open-source" softwares) who only see its technical  
benefits are missing the point too. These users (e.g., most Ubuntu users) may  
switch back to proprietary softwares as soon as there are features absent  
from the Free universe.

Now, talking about economics, here is basic concept: if copying an item does  
not cost anything, its price must drop down to 0. That is the case with any  
digital production such as softwares. As a consequence, charging per copy  
does not make any economical sense. In the case of softwares, the value is in  
the support (new developments, bug-fixing, integration, training of the  
employees, etc.) and a company that wants to be competitive pays for that.  
Even with proprietary softwares, the main cost is the support, not the price  
of the licenses. As it was written earlier, this company does not have to  
redistribute the work achieve by the developers it hires. Most developers are  
working for one single "stakeholder": her employer. That is why a job market  
world with only free softwares would not be much different from the one we  
have today. Nevertheless it would be healthier because Free softwares entails  
a Free market for support (any programmer/It consultant can work on any Free  
software). Liberal people should therefore advocate for Free softwares!