I would hate to see the value of this list watered down.
You mean more than it already has been by this thread?
I hate to break this to the "purists" in the group, but every time you go shopping someone somewhere is making money off of your "hard work". And the last time I checked, Sun was a business, not an altruistic organization.
I found OOo a couple of years ago after over a week of searching for a reasonably priced alternative to MS and WordPerfect -- it wasn't easy to find. It still isn't. And when I *did* find it, I thought it was almost too good to be true.
Distribution is the KEY to getting this program "out there". While I adamantly support *every* individual's right to use their time and resources in the manner they see fit, is it really necessary to make yourself feel "bigger" by making others feel "smaller"? For some, it is. The insecurity and lack of self-confidence that drives some of you, and the way you take your frustrations out on the unsuspecting frankly makes me want to barf.
I, for one, have reached my limit. Not only with the users list, but with the whole project in general. I find, one by one, I've removed myself from almost every OOo project I was even remotely interested in.
The bullies and trolls don't outnumber the people I *do* like to read, but they certainly are more vocal -- and impressed with themselves.
I have had it with the bunch (you know who you are, and so does everyone else) who see their participation on this list, and in the projects, as a way to boost their ego and try to impress others with how wonderful they are, even to the detriment of the project itself. How can you, on the one hand, espouse your superior intellect and knowledge ad nauseum and then, on the other hand, pretend to be so dense as to not know what an OP is talking about? You can't -- you're just being vile and mean.
How you can say distribution of OOo (and heaven forbid actually making a profit from it) is worse than treating people like roaches is beyond me. You have decided what your time is worth, and taken it upon yourself to also decide what other's time and resources are worth. What is a reasonable "profit" in the distribution of *any* open source software? One dollar? Ten? And unless you have access to the financial records of the person or company in question, you don't really *know* what the profit is, now do you? But of course, lack of facts never stops these people from spouting their vitriolic nonsense.
What you put into your mind is even more important than what you put into your body -- and I can't swallow this tripe anymore.
Spring is here -- and that means nesting. And nesting means cleansing. Life is much to short to waste it watching some of you beat people up like schoolyard bullies.
Tam
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