🚀 go-pugleaf

"Richard Steiner" <rsteiner@visi.com> wrote in message
news:W/ml4oHpvGoR092yn@visi.com...
> Here in comp.os.os2.misc, "J. Clarke" <nospam@nospam.nospam>
> spake unto us, saying:
>
> >"Richard Steiner" <rsteiner@visi.com> wrote in message
> >news:UJTl4oHpvu5F092yn@visi.com...
> >
> >> Dishonest people will distribute the drivers anyway regardless of the
> >> availability of the source.
> >
> >GPL covers more than availability of source.  GPL for most code other
than
> >development tools says that you can't prevent your customer from giving
it
> >away either.
>
> I'm somewhat conversant with the details of the GPL, thanks.  :-)
>
> >> BTW, some of us would be more likely to pay for it simply BECAUSE it's
> >> released as an open source product.
> >
> >Why would you pay for something that you may legally obtain for free?
>
> Why?  Because I like supporting those software developers who do things
> that I approve of.
>
> Why else do you think I've registered dozens of shareware packages over
> the years?  And why else do I continue to purchase "official" versions
> of the various Linux distributions I use here (Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE,
> etc) instead of getting the $2 version from Cheap*Bytes?
>
> Because I like supporting the authors.  Period.

Well that's fine.  So how much _does_ Linus Torvalds get out of each copy of
Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE, etc?  Personally I pay for those to get the bundled
commercial apps.

Now, what percentage of the potential customer base for an OS/2 device
driver for a relatively new sound card feel the same way you do?

And we're not talking about shareware here.

> I don't register crippled software at all as a general rule, but if I
> see something I think is cool, I'll pay for it out of principle, or to
> encourage further development, or sometimes just because I happen to
> like the author.

And you like some faceless Taiwanese software company enough that you want
to support them?  As for "further development", how much development does an
OS/2 device driver for a sound card _need_?

--

---

--- John

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