🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <862l2c$m9m$3@jetsam.uits.indiana.edu>,
	galexand@sietch.bloomington.in.us (Greg Alexander) writes:
> 
> Do you really think that foo hacked at bar for the last 3 years just so
> that YOU could get paid for it?  He hacked at bar for the last 3 years so
> that you could use it then if you added to it, he could see those
> additions too!  We all give to the community, so whether we get paid or
> not becomes much less relevant.  If you aren't giving to the community,
> though, then you getting paid is absolutely disgusting and completely
> disenheartening.
I'd just like to signal that when I use GPL'ed software, I 
send bugfixes and enhancements to the software to the author
or maintainer. This is, in any case, the sane way to
proceed, as it ensures that I don't have to keep on
patching the package.

The stuff that applies to a specific customer is usually
of no general interest, and in many cases is privileged
information, and if I insisted on him distributing it, said
customer would not agree to me using GLP'ed code anyway.

Up to now, my use of GPL'ed software has been either
aggregation (like using Ghostscript to view PostScript
files, or batch convert PS to PDF), using GPL'ed libraries,
or making highly customer-specific modifications to programs
such as FTP servers.
I'm currently trying to get a customer to agree to release
a package I wrote for him under the GPL, because it's a
general purpose service, and (unfortunately, the customer
doesn't see it my way, yet).

I charge for the performance guarantee, the customization and the 
maintenance of GPL'ed software, because that, IMHO, is the best
of all worlds: I get the ability to earn my keep, I can
contribute bug fixes and generic enhancements, my customer
uses free software, and gets a good deal (both financially,
and because he doesn't depend on me alone).

Frankly, your comments were a tad harsh.

-- 
Stefaan
-- 
--PGP key available from PGP key servers (http://www.pgp.net/pgpnet/)--
Ninety-Ninety Rule of Project Schedules:
        The first ninety percent of the task takes ninety percent of
the time, and the last ten percent takes the other ninety percent.