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Xref: sserve comp.os.linux:35348 comp.os.386bsd.questions:1830 Newsgroups: comp.os.linux,comp.os.386bsd.questions Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!agate!headwall.Stanford.EDU!kithrup.com!sef From: sef@kithrup.com (Sean Eric Fagan) Subject: Re: Summary of Linux vs. 386BSD vs. Commercial Unixes Organization: Kithrup Enterprises, Ltd. References: <9304181046.aa28257@gate.demon.co.uk> <C5qy6E.6HC@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> <1993Apr20.110521.180705@zeus.calpoly.edu> <C5sEv3.BqM@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> Message-ID: <C5uMLz.GzK@kithrup.com> Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1993 19:39:20 GMT Lines: 26 In article <C5sEv3.BqM@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> dwex@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (david.e.wexelblat) writes: >Which is EXACTLY my objection to the GPL. I write software for a living. >I LIKE the fact that I make money writing software - it gives me the >resources to buy machines so I can do XFree86. As the GNU project has >finally realized (vis-a-vis their net appeals), if programmers don't get >paid, programmers don't program. I write software for a living, too. I get paid for it. So does my apartmentmate. So do all of the programmers I work with. We also only write and support free software. We do not sell software, we sell programming. "We" are Cygnus, incidently. But there are a couple of other companies doing the same, and quite a few independent contractors. The FSF has relied largely on donations to their cause; they have not tried to sell either software or programming. Due to a variety of conditions, that money is drying up, and the FSF is now trying to push themselves to get money -- which, of course, is exactly what other charitable organizations do. Until recently, the FSF relied largely on word-of-mouth, you see. It is entirely possible to work only on free software and still make a decent living.