do you pay for free software?


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Thread: do you pay for free software?

  1. #1
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    do you pay for free software?

    I was curious to know how many people are paying for their free software?

    Weather it be going to the store and buying linux software off the shelf, or purchasing online to get CD's shipped to you, or by simply donating money (not time) to the cause.

    Most peoples first reaction to why people use linux, is that it is free.

    This of course can mean many things, but I'm sure there is plenty of software for linux that you are supposed to pay for, right? even though it seems to be readily availible without charge.

    Additionally, when you do find a nice app that is free as in beer, do you donate to that company/person?

    How much? If I find an app i like and i use (k3b), how much "should" i "donate" for it? Is sending 10bucks even worth it? Is it worth 30 bux to me to use? 50? I mine as well just use it for free then.

    Just curious....

    As for me, i recently purchased Crossover ($30) to run many MS apps on linux as my company is mostly MS 2000.

    I don't think i came up with this quote first, as I'm not that clever, but :

    Software worth using, is software worth paying for.

  2. #2
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    For me it really depends on the sofware. Like, I won't hesitate at all to buy a linux distro--that is if I have the money. And the same goes for many apps.

    And for me, it's not the linux being free part why I like linux. I like it for the way it's built and how it works. (Not the free part isn't a nice little feature)

  3. #3
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    Re: do you pay for free software?

    Originally posted by happybunny
    Is sending 10bucks even worth it?
    definetly. any help is better than no help at all. free software programmers still have to spend just as much time and effort writing good apps as commercial programmers do.
    slacker

  4. #4
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    when I get my first real job using my degrees (basically when I can afford to throw a few hundred bucks away -- something my Sears income doesn't allow) and make a middle-class income, I will donate some to various organizations (mozilla, gentoo, slackware, for example) in an attempt to say "thanks" and to help the developers and such out.
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  5. #5
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    I do it very frequently, by purchasing boxed sets, and donations.

    I've purchased box sets for Red Hat and FreeBSD. I've also recently bought Debian, Mandrake, and Slackware CDs. Also, I donated to Debian. All of this within the past year.

    Which reminds me... as soon as the NetBSD handbook is in print, I'm scoring one of them, and I'd like to buy the updated version of the FreeBSD handbook, too.
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  6. #6
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    When I find a distro I really like, I get a box set. At me previous job, I would ask my boss to buy my apps for me, and also a box set about twice a year, I personally have bought two box sets. And I have just ordered a Suse 9.2 upgrade box set.

    I buy it because I feel it is worth it, when you consider that a SuSE box set costs me around Rs2000.00, and an MS windows license costs Rs6000.00, and I get all the apps in the world with it, it is defenitly worth it! Even my wife doesn't mind me buying a box set. She likes the packaging! (she is a graphic designer).

    I think I read somewhere that that a box set of SuSE is like $60.00. Which really isn't much if you consider what you are getting, as apposed to just MS Office which is alone $200.00


    Please guys, if you can afford it (I know not all of us can, I couldn't before), at least try and donate something, even $10.00, the programmers have to eat too!!
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    I donated a good amount of money to Firefox and Gentoo. I think that they should all get a tip. Working for free doesn't mean they shouldn't pick up a few bucks here and there. I mean, you tip the Coffee people, right?
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  8. #8
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    Originally posted by fatTrav
    when I get my first real job using my degrees (basically when I can afford to throw a few hundred bucks away -- something my Sears income doesn't allow) and make a middle-class income, I will donate some to various organizations (mozilla, gentoo, slackware, for example) in an attempt to say "thanks" and to help the developers and such out.
    Ditto. Once I stop throwing money down the pit known as tuition I'll be purchasing Mandrake and probably donating to a couple of other worthy projects. For the moment, I'm trying to content myself with contributing time here and on the GUI in my sig, but eventually I'll be doing something more tangible for Open Source.

  9. #9
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    Originally posted by CoffeeMan
    I mean, you tip the Coffee people, right?
    Nope, been a long time since I have walked into starbucks and dropped them a tip... Wait! I don't even drink coffee.
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  10. #10
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    Originally posted by cybertron
    Ditto. Once I stop throwing money down the pit known as tuition ...
    you forgot about beer and books

    is there a way to donate to the kernel efforts? i mean, other than giving my time in workin on some kernel code and instead just sending them a check?
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  11. #11
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    I donate to most of the distributions, since they can use the money to keep the servers online and pay for their pizza and coke...
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  12. #12
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    I pay for distributions, too. However, I guess I should also start to pay for applications... I definetly need to donate money to Mozilla/Firefox, KDE and OpenOffice as I use them daily.

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  13. #13
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    I have donated money to Firefox (via http://www.spreadfirefox.com), and I bought a copy of Debian from http://www.linuxemporium.co.uk

    I also bought a couple of commercial games for Linux, but I think it was a bit late for Loki
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  14. #14
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    I cant currently spend money on the Distro/Apps I use, I'm throwing too much money away at Uni But I brought Debian, and a few Loki games, like mrBen said a bit too late it would seem. However when I can afford it I do buy, a Debian Tshirt to help support my favourite distro, or a stuffed tux to support Open Source Software in general. You've got to love having that little penguin sitting on your desk watchin over you
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  15. #15
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    Originally posted by fatTrav
    you forgot about beer and books
    Ah but beer will always continue to be a pit to throw money. I have purchased box sets from the distros I have used thus far. Started with Red Hat, then SuSE. Have yet to buy Slackware, but I just started with it. I don't use Linux because it is free. I use it because it is better. Although I have spent less on Linux distros (2 versions of Red Hat and 2 of SuSE) than I would have on 1 retail copy of Windows XP if I had ever purchased it.
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