Arch Linux

hockeyfighter09

Member

Registered: 2009-07-04

Posts: 48

Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

Hey all, I discovered Linux and open source software a little over 4 years ago now. It transformed the way I thought about software and using the computer. So now in my senior year of college I have chosen for open source software to be the subject of my thesis.

The topic of this thread is the research question of my thesis. But it is also question that I have been thinking about for the last couple years or so. Why do people decide to write software and then give it out for free for all to modify? The second has to do with forums like these. I have always wondered why people do help support on these forums for free when they can be making money doing the exact same thing. Below I will write 13 research questions that you guys can give me your answers or philosophy too.

1. How long have you been using Linux?
2. How did you learn/find out about Linux?
3. Why have you chosen Linux over other operating systems available?
4. Why did you choose to use your current distribution?
5. Do you still use any closed source programs that are not available for Linux?
6. Tell me the reasons that you contribute to the community?
7. What do you think motivates others to contribute to the community?
8. In your opinion, what reasons do you think others provide software to everyone for free?
9. In what ways do you feel contributing to the community could benefit someone's future/career?
10. What is it about contributing or programming that you enjoy most? Is there any aspects you dislike?
11. Are you a member of other non-software communities? Such as a church, voluntary organizations or charities?
12. Does your open source work spillover with any other areas of your life?
13. If you provide support on forums such as these, why do it for free?

You DO NOT have to answer all 13 of the questions above. Please just pick out the ones that you feel are most important or interesting to answer. If someone else says something that you think is interesting feel free to respond to them if you agree or disagree.

If anyone wants to take this discussion further with me than the forum, I will absolutely love too! Just please send me a private message on here and we can figure out further ways of contacting each other.

I plan on using your user names on this forum to identify people in my paper. If any of you are uncomfortable with me using your username in my paper, please let me know! I will be monitoring this thread on a day by day basis for the next two months or so, until my thesis is complete. If you guys have any other questions that pop up, please do not hesitate to ask! Thank you all in advance for responding!

stlarch

Member

From: hell

Registered: 2010-12-25

Posts: 1,265

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

It's all about freedom. Freedom man. Free your mind.

litemotiv

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2008-08-01

Posts: 5,026

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

I always find it interesting to see that the people who contribute the most to open source, are usually also the least socially skilled / interested. I believe that in the end, 'control' might be a more powerful motivator than 'freedom'.

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hockeyfighter09

Member

Registered: 2009-07-04

Posts: 48

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

I always find it interesting to see that the people who contribute the most to open source, are usually also the least socially skilled / interested. I believe that in the end, 'control' might be a more powerful motivator than 'freedom'.

That's a really interesting insight.  If you could would you elaborate more on what you mean by that?

Inxsible

Forum Fellow

From: Chicago

Registered: 2008-06-09

Posts: 9,183

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

1. How long have you been using Linux?

6 years

2. How did you learn/find out about Linux?

knew about it for longer than I used it, but was apprehensive about it working on desktops until I took the plunge. Suffice to say I was pleasantly surprised.

3. Why have you chosen Linux over other operating systems available?

Windows just got to me with slowness over time and major changes between versions (see XP --> Vista). and I wasn't that optimistic about *BSD's at that time but that has changed over the years.

4. Why did you choose to use your current distribution?

Current distro : Arch Linux. Before that I used: Ubuntu, Zenwalk, Xubuntu, Debian. Also tried various others like DSL, Puppy, slitaz, etc. Arch made me learn more about linux than other linux distros

5. Do you still use any closed source programs that are not available for Linux?

Yes. Tax software during tax time of the year

6. Tell me the reasons that you contribute to the community?

To educate more people that they have a choice and to help them choose what they want to use and that they are not stuck with something.

7. What do you think motivates others to contribute to the community?

I hope the same thing that I feel.

8. In your opinion, what reasons do you think others provide software to everyone for free?

Freedom.

9. In what ways do you feel contributing to the community could benefit someone's future/career?

See 6,7,8

10. What is it about contributing or programming that you enjoy most? Is there any aspects you dislike?

Enjoy seeing your contributions being used by others and hopefully helping them in their daily tasks. I HATE it when others think they have a right to demand some enhancement or bug fix - when all they want to do is simply rant and complain instead of being useful in coding/testing etc.

11. Are you a member of other non-software communities? Such as a church, voluntary organizations or charities?

nope, but I do charity work for various organizations without identifying myself with only a couple.

12. Does your open source work spillover with any other areas of your life?

At times.

13. If you provide support on forums such as these, why do it for free?

See 6,7,8,9 and the fact that I truly appreciated the help I got when I was new to everything. Its a way of giving back.

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skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

1. How long have you been using Linux?

Full time since 2003. Off and on for a few years before that.

2. How did you learn/find out about Linux?

There was a Red Hat disc included in some magazine that I read, Computer Shopper, I think. I read some articles online about it and decided to try it. I was too much in the 'Windows mindset' to get a system running for a while after that.

3. Why have you chosen Linux over other operating systems available?

In the early days it did most of what I needed it to do and was more stable than Windows, my original reason for considering something else.

4. Why did you choose to use your current distribution?

Arch has a great blend of simplicity, configurability, up to date, and community that both surpassed my previous experience and still continues today.

5. Do you still use any closed source programs that are not available for Linux?

Only professionally.

6. Tell me the reasons that you contribute to the community?

I wanted to give something back. I donate time and/or money to projects regularly.

7. What do you think motivates others to contribute to the community?

Either for the same reasons that I've posted or they've found a way to create or have a need to support a revenue stream from the software.

8. In your opinion, what reasons do you think others provide software to everyone for free?

For the reasons that I've stated above. It's helpful to mention that a huge amount of money is involved in the open source world. In many cases it's far less expensive to leverage the power of and contribute to free software than it is to create it on your own, license into something, or face the limitations of closed software. Consider the total cost of Windows development. If one needs a custom OS for any reason, they could be looking at hundreds of thousands vs. millions of dollars worth of investment. 

9. In what ways do you feel contributing to the community could benefit someone's future/career?

Getting involved anywhere makes you more skillful at whatever area that you're working in. Coding in open source makes one a better programmer, not only for writing code, but getting feedback by people that have no vested interest in your future as a coder. Submitting bug reports helps one to understand the tools and techniques necessary for efficient debugging. Helping in the puplic areas like forums will teach you a lot about others and yourself, particularly in anonymous, international boards.

10. What is it about contributing or programming that you enjoy most? Is there any aspects you dislike?

First and foremost, helping others comes naturaly to me. As well, it keeps me in a constant state of learning and it has introduced me to countless different perspectives on people and things.

11. Are you a member of other non-software communities? Such as a church, voluntary organizations or charities?

Does the Guild of Caffeine Addicts count?

12. Does your open source work spillover with any other areas of your life?

It carries over into my professional life in an ever increasing degree. I've been slowly introducing free software in the company that I work for. Soon we'll be rolling out project management software with a dedicated Linux server that I will set up and administrate.

13. If you provide support on forums such as these, why do it for free?

Cuz' that's what you do!

*** Slowly editing to fix typos ***

Last edited by skottish (2011-03-30 01:05:27)

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

I always find it interesting to see that the people who contribute the most to open source, are usually also the least socially skilled / interested. I believe that in the end, 'control' might be a more powerful motivator than 'freedom'.

That's a really interesting insight.  If you could would you elaborate more on what you mean by that?

There's no doubt about this. Freedom cannot be provided by an ideology, but tools can give one a greater deal of control on how they express themselves. Expression can be free, but it can never be provided.

stlarch

Member

From: hell

Registered: 2010-12-25

Posts: 1,265

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

Yep. I think it does boil down to those two things. Freedom and control. I've been using Linux for a couple years but only started to really learn about it when I switched to Arch from Ubuntu. I'm not a programmer and I've never worked in the field and have no formal training. I'm just a hobbyist. I can't really contribute much of anything right now but I'm trying to improve my skills and am seriously considering trying to learn some basic programming at least. Maybe one day I can contribute a little too. I hang out here because everyone is way smarter than me. And pretty cool too.

Last edited by stlarch (2011-03-27 19:24:46)

Cdh

Member

Registered: 2009-02-03

Posts: 1,098

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

I'm not adressing a single point either.

I think that many feel as I do, that the idea of Open Source Software is just worth supporting:

If I write a piece of proprietary software and distribute it nobody than me can fix bugs or make improvements to it. When I decide to abandon the software everyone who uses it is stuck with the last version unless they find another piece of software for which probably the same amount of developer energy has been used. Better: Has been wasted.

If I provide my software as Open Source, best with GPL and distribute it to 1000 people maybe 10 or 50 or 100 of them will fix bugs or send me improvements from which everyone profits. Also, the developers of the scenario above don't need to waste their time doing everything from scratch but can spend it better actually improving what is already there.

Unfortunately many Open Source programs lack quality at first but I believe with time they will surpass proprietary software just because anybode can contribute - and everybode will profit from any single contributor.
Right now Adobe products like photoshop, indesign etc. or professional audio tools like protools, reaper, etc. have no Open Source match but I think they eventually will.

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anonymous_user

Member

Registered: 2009-08-28

Posts: 3,059

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

1. How long have you been using Linux?

3-4 years

2. How did you learn/find out about Linux?

I tried my first distro when I saw a download mentioned in a forum.

3. Why have you chosen Linux over other operating systems available?

I still keep Windows, but I use Linux as my primary OS because it is free, more customizable (than Windows), and much lighter (than Windows Vista and newer).

4. Why did you choose to use your current distribution?

I chose Arch Linux because it has bleed edge packages and it is minimal/DIY by design.

5. Do you still use any closed source programs that are not available for Linux?

Mostly games.

6. Tell me the reasons that you contribute to the community?

To give back for all the times the community has helped me. Also I enjoy responding to questions on forums.

11. Are you a member of other non-software communities? Such as a church, voluntary organizations or charities?

Nope.

13. If you provide support on forums such as these, why do it for free?

Well if anyone wants to pay me, I gladly accept PayPal donations

litemotiv

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2008-08-01

Posts: 5,026

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

That's a really interesting insight.  If you could would you elaborate more on what you mean by that?

I think that many people who start using open source believe that they are looking for 'freedom'. Open source is a digital world you are free to shape however you like, and this generally attracts a certain kind of people; intelligent, rational, non-conforming and sometimes bordering obsessive compulsive. So when given the freedom to indulge in these urges in a virtual reality, it's not a really big leap to transform into a control-oriented meritocrate.

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ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,328

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

One thing you may be overlooking.  Contrary to popular belief, there is a whole lot of FOSS that is produced by major corporations.  Look at the efforts of companies such as IBM, Novel, Sun/Oracle, Red Hat, Nokia, SCO, HP and Google.  There are even contributions from the likes of Apple and Microsoft.

Corporations, by their nature, don't do this for any altruistic reasons -- It has to support their business model in some way.

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stlarch

Member

From: hell

Registered: 2010-12-25

Posts: 1,265

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

Meritocrate? I had to look that one up. See what I mean about everyone being smarter than me. I don't know about all that but, Confucius says, "Forget injuries, but never forget kindness."

hockeyfighter09

Member

Registered: 2009-07-04

Posts: 48

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

One thing you may be overlooking.  Contrary to popular belief, there is a whole lot of FOSS that is produced by major corporations.  Look at the efforts of companies such as IBM, Novel, Sun/Oracle, Red Hat, Nokia, SCO, HP and Google.  There are even contributions from the likes of Apple and Microsoft.

Corporations, by their nature, don't do this for any altruistic reasons -- It has to support their business model in some way.

I have thought about that, thanks for pointing that out!  I was thinking about it as why ordinary people contribute to a project, for example Fedora, a community version that snapshots are taken from to make future versions of Red Hat Linux.  What motivates these people that are not employed by Red Hat who go on submit patches, bug fixes etc? 
The same can be said for any corporation that puts out OSS.  What makes people work on code from Firefox and submit their work who are no employed by Mozilla?  I hope my point is clear about what I mean.

Cyrusm

Member

From: Bozeman, MT

Registered: 2007-11-15

Posts: 1,053

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

1.) I think since 2006 maybe 7?
2.) I was trying to do school on a shoestring budget, I couln't afford commercial software, so a freind suggested Linux (changed my whole life! I was going to school for oceanography. now I'm studying computer engineering. thank you linux!)
3.) Originally, because it was free as in beer. However I love the community philosophy and the do-it-yourself attitude.  I feel great satisfaction in having control over my system, and knowing that
      I can build on it or modify it as I see fit.
4.) see 3.
5.) Only programs required for my accademic persuits. such as FPGA synthesisers.
6.) I 'contribute' solely for my own personal gain. if a program or system works better, then I'm happier using it. If I'm happier, it's safe to assume that generally others will be to. Sharing is the logical
     choice.
7.) hopefully for the same reasons as me, but it really doesn't matter as long as they keep doing it.
8.) a.) so that everyone can benefit from their work.
     b.) to bring new ideas and improvements to the project that the creator may not have realized.
9.) interesting question... The willingness to provide of yourself to projects such as these demonstrates a true passion for software developement and a desire to learn and create.
     In my experience with professional software developers, this is an important ideal that is sadly lacking (a lot of people just do it for the paycheck.)
10.) For me, it's like changing my own oil, or going out to the shop and making a chair, or soldering together my own oscilloscope.  Could I just go buy these things? sure. but where's the satisfaction        in that?
11.) Not currently.
12.) no good answer.
13.) The pesky admins keep removing my PayPal button!  but aside from that, whenever I have time to kill, I try to help out other users in need. Maybe they need a small tip that I can provide.     usually, I learn a lot while reading other peoples threads.  so lurking in the forums frequently is a win/win situation for everybody.  Also I find forum threads are a great documentation tool.  I frequently need to re-read old threads.

Last edited by Cyrusm (2011-03-27 21:10:28)

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eDio

Member

From: Ukraine, Kyiv

Registered: 2008-12-02

Posts: 422

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

1. How long have you been using Linux?
about 2 years

2. How did you learn/find out about Linux?
Found old disc of Ubuntu 5 on my brother's table. Tried it and was fascinated.

3. Why have you chosen Linux over other operating systems available?
It suits my needs well

4. Why did you choose to use your current distribution?
(ArchLinux) it is extremely simple but yet powerful and stable. The only distribution I feel comfortable with.

5. Do you still use any closed source programs that are not available for Linux?
I have been using Logic Audio Platinum 5 under Windows just about 1 year ago. Now I don't compose music... partially because there is no good alternative for Logic Audio in Linux. Anyway, I don't use any non-linux closed source SW now.

6. Tell me the reasons that you contribute to the community?
I haven't contributed. Only provided some simple PKGBUILDs for AUR.
I can do it, I'm doing it for myself, so why don't do it for all?

8. In your opinion, what reasons do you think others provide software to everyone for free?
If I were developer, I would provide software for free to grow up over myself and get experience. Releasing SW with it's code - is a great possibility to get knowledge of your own mistakes and grow higher.

9. In what ways do you feel contributing to the community could benefit someone's future/career?
Contribution is a great experience at first. Also this could be a bonus in your CV. It is just can be an interesting thing to do finally.

11. Are you a member of other non-software communities? Such as a church, voluntary organizations or charities?
no

12. Does your open source work spillover with any other areas of yournno life?
no

13. If you provide support on forums such as these, why do it for free?
I believe, that sharing knowledge with others is a good way to increase your knowledge without much effort.

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Cdh

Member

Registered: 2009-02-03

Posts: 1,098

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

I have thought about that, thanks for pointing that out!  I was thinking about it as why ordinary people contribute to a project, for example Fedora, a community version that snapshots are taken from to make future versions of Red Hat Linux.  What motivates these people that are not employed by Red Hat who go on submit patches, bug fixes etc? 
The same can be said for any corporation that puts out OSS.  What makes people work on code from Firefox and submit their work who are no employed by Mozilla?  I hope my point is clear about what I mean.

One reason is probably what I said before:
Red hat has an interest to publish good software. By improving Red Hat Linux they will likely also provide bugfixes for Fedora. So if I would use and develop Fedora I would be totally happy for Red Hat taking my distribution - in which I lose nothing - and potentially receive bugfixes and improvements - by which my distribution and I personally would profit.

That works especially well when people send bugfixes and improvements upstream. You don't need to do that out of altruism either: You just have to acknowledge that you cannot know every piece of software as well as the original developers and therefore they should fix it so that the next version they get will be fixed.
Recently there was an article on tdwtf: http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Testing-Done-Right.aspx

Because no amount of testing can prevent all defects, there is always a risk to making changes. You might not think that simply changing the label next to a text field could cause anything to go wrong, but it has happened before (I’ve seen it first hand), and it will happen again. It doesn’t matter what the source of the defect is (code, deployment, configuration, etc.), the fact is that the defect was introduced as an end result of a change.

And that risk is probably much lower when the change is done by someone who has in-depth knowledge of the software. See the Debian OpenSSL randomness patch...

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dakt

Member

From: Croatia

Registered: 2010-10-04

Posts: 67

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

1. How long have you been using Linux?

About 4 years.

2. How did you learn/find out about Linux?

Actually I have "used" Linux way back in 1995 when I was just a little kid fascinated by computers...and for some reason I left my hobby and forgot about it.
Sad...I remember reading the code and testing PC/i386 features for my self(not much, some BIOS ints and jumping to protected mode and writing to frame buffer)...

3. Why have you chosen Linux over other operating systems available?

...then years later I came back to my hobby, used Windows for a while and after grabbed Fedora, played with it and I was fascinted by one command output:
#cat /proc/self/maps

Wow...it was enough for me. I then decided to apply at the universety and study computer science.

4. Why did you choose to use your current distribution?

It's not difficult to install and still lets me to decide what I really want.

5. Do you still use any closed source programs that are not available for Linux?

No. But only because my demands are really poor. It's vim, gcc, gdb, binutils and a web browser. But sometimes I wish to get airborne with MS FSX.

6. Tell me the reasons that you contribute to the community?

In form of code I'm still short. But I "plan" to do some kernel hacking which takes a huge ammount of effort and sacrafice. That is the only open source project that I'm very interested in...but yeah...maybe in 2-3 years...

7. What do you think motivates others to contribute to the community?

Not sure what motivates others, but my motivation is purley tehnical. Open source people are usually far more tehnical and knowledge it self is by far more accessible, not just in the form of the code.

8. In your opinion, what reasons do you think others provide software to everyone for free?

It's a competition, some ego, tehnical aspects...and yeah...freedom.

9. In what ways do you feel contributing to the community could benefit someone's future/career?

In the same way as it has helped me.

10. What is it about contributing or programming that you enjoy most? Is there any aspects you dislike?

See 7.

11. Are you a member of other non-software communities? Such as a church, voluntary organizations or charities?

I used to play a guitar in the church choir.

stqn

Member

Registered: 2010-03-19

Posts: 1,191

Website

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

Question 13 is strange... How are we supposed to get paid answering questions in a forum? Should we write "hey, I've got the answer to your problem, just send me 10$ on this paypal account and I'll mail it to you"?

mcmillan

Member

Registered: 2006-04-06

Posts: 737

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

1. How long have you been using Linux?

About 6 years

2. How did you learn/find out about Linux?

Some of my friends had been using it for a while before, was curious to try it out

3. Why have you chosen Linux over other operating systems available?

The monetary cost was an initial draw, as I learned more about it I came to appreciate it being easier to learn how the details of my system are working.

4. Why did you choose to use your current distribution?

I like the transparency of Arch, see answer #3. There's also an appeal of building up a working system from the base up, rather than removing or replacing parts I don't want as would be the case for many other distros.

5. Do you still use any closed source programs that are not available for Linux?

I have a copy of microsoft office that I keep around to ensure compatibility for some documents that I need to be sure look the same but are kept editable by other people. A few other things I use, but could get by without if I didn't already have access to a Windows OS

6. Tell me the reasons that you contribute to the community?

I've benefited from the work others have put in, it seems fair to contribute in whatever way is possible (generally forum posting and bug reporting since my programing skills are pretty rudimentary). It also gives me some motivation to learn more about something that I may not have immediate use for as well.  Contributing can also lead to improvements that may not happen as quickly without input

7. What do you think motivates others to contribute to the community?

See #6, I think it also gives people an easy outlet to get their work out where other people can see it.

8. In your opinion, what reasons do you think others provide software to everyone for free?

See #7

9. In what ways do you feel contributing to the community could benefit someone's future/career?

I can definitely see skills that get picked up troubleshooting or trying to improve code can be useful in more formal situations of programming. Personally I found my experience with linux helpful when I started doing computer simulations as part of my research, it made that transition from pure experimental work a lot easier and may not have even been appealing if I didn't have some of that background knowledge.

11. Are you a member of other non-software communities? Such as a church, voluntary organizations or charities?

I work with a group doing science outreach work, other than that affiliations are pretty informal. I could probably be said to be part of a gaming community and dance/music communities.

12. Does your open source work spillover with any other areas of your life?

See #9

13. If you provide support on forums such as these, why do it for free?

See #6

hockeyfighter09

Member

Registered: 2009-07-04

Posts: 48

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

Question 13 is strange... How are we supposed to get paid answering questions in a forum? Should we write "hey, I've got the answer to your problem, just send me 10$ on this paypal account and I'll mail it to you"?

I guess what I mean by that is comparing free support that comes with linux distro and paid support that comes with Windows or OSX.  When I see someone on a particular distro forum with post counts of 1000s, that is a lot of free time dedicated helping others, sometimes with complex problems that might take multiple tries to come up with a fix.  Why not help others and get paid for it like the people who provide support for products like Windows or OSX?  Thats what I am really trying to get at with that question.

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,358

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

1. How long have you been using Linux?

Roughly 3 years, with about 2 of those full-time. Tried out for 6 months a couple of years before that, but didn't stick.

2. How did you learn/find out about Linux?

Older relatives/friends mentioned it in passing due to my interest in computers, was pointed to the (then-new) Ubuntu and actually given a CD (which I never used). Did read up a bit about it at the time, though.

3. Why have you chosen Linux over other operating systems available?

Frustration with fixing Windows. Most of that came from my tinkering with it with a bunch of patches/hacks/cracks etc, necessitating a reformat every few months. Oh, and viruses would pop-up once in a while. Mac was always out of my budget (was a student, am still not done with my post-grad).

4. Why did you choose to use your current distribution?

Ubuntu got quite frustrating from two aspects:-
1. 'Freeze' policy kept creating lousy bugs. I would have maybe 12 external ppas enabled and of course they wouldn't always play nice with each other, simply because the repos I had been so in awe of when first starting out didn't actually contain all that many useful programs. Used Mint for a while, same problem (now I understand it was the same base).
2. SNR of forums - When I first joined ubuntuforums it was like heaven-on-earth, so HELPFUL, so many replies almost instantly. It took me roughly 1 and a half months to notice that probably only 2 regular posters were worth listening to, the rest were trying to help with no knowledge to back them up.

So I tried Sidux, OpenSuse, Fedora, and finally read about Arch. Installed it side-by-side, and viola, it was fun! I like tinkering, basically, and Arch allows me to do it far more than Ubuntu/Windows (I class Ubuntu as similar to Windows by now) ever did.

5. Do you still use any closed source programs that are not available for Linux?

Yes, some games through wine (not sure if that counts as 'available for Linux'. I do not boot into Windows at all, anymore (though its on my laptop).

6. Tell me the reasons that you contribute to the community?

One of the best things I like about open-source is how most active projects have a community around them. So its not just software, but people working together (of course with heirarchies etc.), fits my Utopian view of how things 'should be(tm)'. I'm a sucker for Utopia, so I try to feed the community as far as possible.

7. What do you think motivates others to contribute to the community?

A combination of 6. and substituting social deficiencies. Some come across as not actually having much of a social life (probably lack of those sharing nerdy interests in their area) and substituting that in online communities. This isn't really Linux specific, more internet-community specific.

8. In your opinion, what reasons do you think others provide software to everyone for free?

Perspective of personal developer (one-man projects), I think its a mix of altruism (probably 20-30%), pride (50%) and commercial sensibility (the rest). Most of it is pride, the knowledge that many use my software.

For companies, as mentioned above, its very financially viable, especially in already-saturated markets.

9. In what ways do you feel contributing to the community could benefit someone's future/career?

Not much, honestly. My career-line is education/engineering, so not much scope there. For someone in the computer sciences, of course there'd be more benefit, but not more than investing the same amount of time into part-time work to expand your portfolio. So for the INDIVIDUAL I believe participating in the community does not bring future/career benefits, we do it because we enjoy the community and want to see it succeed.

10. What is it about contributing or programming that you enjoy most? Is there any aspects you dislike?

The sense of achievement, that what you do is useful to someone. The BIG dislike is when other members of the community don't feel the same way. There will always be members who are demanding (customer mentality) or abrasive (big tough guy mentality). Both are 'big city' mentalities with no place in the 'homely-little-town' community of Linux (that's how I see it anyway).

Oh, and noobs answering questions with no knowledge (something I've done before as well) are more annoying than noobs asking questions, personal opinion

11. Are you a member of other non-software communities? Such as a church, voluntary organizations or charities?

I'm very active in my church (various leadership roles), and regularly help out at my fiance's NGO (mostly video work, ffmpeg and cinelerra stuff). A child sponsor and blood donor, etc. etc.

12. Does your open source work spillover with any other areas of your life?

I don't 'work' on open-source, so a bit of a N/A here. What small patches I provide, or the moderating I do here, is just small contributions. Doesn't spill over to any other areas of my life, because computers are like that, compartmentalized away from the 'real world' (cue Matrix theme tune).

13. If you provide support on forums such as these, why do it for free?

Like I said, in a small village community setting, people help and are helped for free. I do tech support for friends/relatives in RL for free, so on the forums, for very little time invested, why not?

In answer to litemotiv - yes control is MUCH more important than freedom. I've never really been taken by all of RMS' screaming and ranting. I'm an engineer by training, I want to know what's going on (to a reasonable degree) and control it. Philosophical discussions are interesting but ultimately a waste of time.

---

Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

milomouse

Member

Registered: 2009-03-24

Posts: 940

Website

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

1. How long have you been using Linux?

6 years

2. How did you learn/find out about Linux?

I was highly disappointed with Windows and went on a search for alternative operating systems.  First I found BeOS (then Zeta) but they couldn't support my hardware but I noticed on another website talking about BeOS that there was a link to OpenSUSE which turned out to be Linux and the rest is history.

3. Why have you chosen Linux over other operating systems available?

Hardware support, numerous online communities, absolute control over the system due to the transparent nature of the Linux kernel.  There were alternatives like BSD but like I said, hardware is important to me.

4. Why did you choose to use your current distribution?

I chose ArchLinux because it stood out from the rest in the sense that it was one of the most minimal while also being one of the most up-to-date and easily customized to be whatever you wanted out of a system.  Also, as with the Linux kernel, it made the process mostly transparent in that I was shown and advised about some of the core files and processes involved in creating a functional environment.  Other Linux distros more or less set everything up for you and left you in the dark, leaving you to your devices on figuring out what's going on when in fact it was something they configured to be generated dynamically upon boot or something stupid like that.

5. Do you still use any closed source programs that are not available for Linux?

I only have Linux and, as far as I'm aware, I don't have anything closed source though I could be wrong.  I don't monitor every project.  I also tried weeding down any fonts or codecs that may be proprietary.

6. Tell me the reasons that you contribute to the community?

Well, I try to contribute in the forums when I can and would like to contribue to the wiki if it wasn't already so comprehensive, though I do see a few pages missing that I could create if I really put my time into them.  I'm learning some programming languages (outside of z-shell) such as lisp, haskell and ruby, but I'm not quite there as far as contributing code to any projects.  Also, every program I need is already maintained outside of a few patched versions I handle myself, so I've yet to contribute in maintaining a package except a patched version of util-linux.  I'm hoping I'll be able to contribute more once my knowledge base expands.

7. What do you think motivates others to contribute to the community?

Community involvement, collaboration, accomplishment/feeling of a job well done when you've helped improve on something everyone can use.  Also, feeling thankful for others who have help improve your experience and wanting to give back in turn.

8. In your opinion, what reasons do you think others provide software to everyone for free?

Perhaps the software was initially a project they started to expand their knowledge of a language and it grew from there.  Perhaps the desire to contribute something useful that you cannot otherwise find without purchasing.
....

11. Are you a member of other non-software communities? Such as a church, voluntary organizations or charities?

No communities or church, though I do sponsor a girl in India (5 years so far) and about to sponsor another even though I work seasonal and at minimum wage.  Difficult to maintain full-time while going to college full-time, though I'd never drop sponsorship even at the cost of my own living.
....

13. If you provide support on forums such as these, why do it for free?

Because knowledge shouldn't be restricted to those who cannot pay for it.  If closed source projects refuse to give information about their products and there's a public forum for those with the time and desire then it should be allowed and given at the risk and discretion of the user.

Last edited by milomouse (2011-03-27 23:24:34)

stqn

Member

Registered: 2010-03-19

Posts: 1,191

Website

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

When I see someone on a particular distro forum with post counts of 1000s, that is a lot of free time dedicated helping others, sometimes with complex problems that might take multiple tries to come up with a fix.  Why not help others and get paid for it like the people who provide support for products like Windows or OSX?  Thats what I am really trying to get at with that question.

Ah, I see now. I'm not sure if there's a market for that... There is one for Windows users because people who don't know anything about computing use Windows... But Linux users either can fix things by themselves (with free help from "the Internet"...) or are using Linux because a family member installed it for them, in which case this relative will help them for free (hopefully.)

I may be wrong but I think a Linux users who doesn't have the time to maintain his box anymore is more likely to switch to Debian stable than pay someone to take care of his problems. Now that could be different as far as entreprises are concerned, of course...

freemind

Member

Registered: 2011-03-07

Posts: 20

Re: Why Do People Make and Provide Software and Support for Free?

1. How long have you been using Linux?

I have been using GNU/Linux for almost 3 years.

2. How did you learn/find out about Linux?

School.

3. Why have you chosen Linux over other operating systems available?

The main reason i choose GNU/Linux is because it's free(libre) software.
The fact that is reliable, powerful and gratis is also a plus, of course.

4. Why did you choose to use your current distribution?

I use Ubuntu because it's easy to install and use. Although it recommends non-free software, by default it's mostly free.
I also use Trisquel, for the same practical reasons as Ubuntu and the benefit of being fully free and dedicated to free software.

5. Do you still use any closed source programs that are not available for Linux?

On GNU/Linux i don't use any proprietary software, besides the proprietary firmware in Linux on my Ubuntu installation (my wireless card doesn't work without it ). I also have an installation with Windows for school stuff.

6. Tell me the reasons that you contribute to the community?

To improve the Free/Libre Software world. Also as an act of appreciation for the free software i use now.

7. What do you think motivates others to contribute to the community?

I'm sure there are various reasons, like for freedom, fun (hobby), money, recognition.

8. In your opinion, what reasons do you think others provide software to everyone for free?

What do you mean, by "for free"? do you mean free of charge? or free as in freedom?
Well if it is free of charge (gratis), i would say because usually free software is done as a hobby, in the developers' spare time, so they don't need (or even want) to charge money for it. Although there are some projects that are free as in freedom but not free of charge and there are many others that accept donations.
But let's be realistic, you can't gain much money by selling proprietary software even less by selling free software, unless you find a good business model. The one that should be more profitable with free software is selling exceptions, like Qt and Game Editor do.
If on the other hand you were talking about freedom, the answer would be the same as the answer given in question 7.

9. In what ways do you feel contributing to the community could benefit someone's future/career?

I hope for a better future, by making the use of the computer easier and funnier.

10. What is it about contributing or programming that you enjoy most? Is there any aspects you dislike?

I like to see my contributions being used and appreciated by people.

11. Are you a member of other non-software communities? Such as a church, voluntary organizations or charities?

No.

12. Does your open source work spillover with any other areas of your life?

Since i'm a computer science student, it sometimes helps me with my school programming projects.

Last edited by freemind (2011-03-28 02:18:04)