How do people expect free software to ever go anywhere ?

[AFB]

How many people are going to be happy when they find out that they have no one to call when they can't find a certain menu item or get a program to work ? How many people are going to be able to compile their software ? How many people want to edit a config file when they install a new program ?


Sorry just a rant.

<flamesuit type="extrathick">

 

[Kadarin]

Yeah.. that free software like Apache, Ethereal, Mozilla (Firefox)... just so hard to use and hard to support...

 

[So]

How many people are so cheap that they can't see more than thirty seconds into the future?

The same reason that wal-mart makes a killing selling cheap crap that will break in thirty-one days is why people will buy into open source. Then, companies that charge $30 for 15 mins of tech support will make a killing, and the marketplace will adapt.

 

[AFB]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Yeah.. that free software like Apache, Ethereal, Mozilla (Firefox)... just so hard to use and hard to support...

But how many non-geekish people use that with the exception of FireFox?

 

[Gnurb]

Give away the software, and sell the support. It's not really a new idea.

 

[bdjohnson]

Originally posted by: amdfanboy

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Yeah.. that free software like Apache, Ethereal, Mozilla (Firefox)... just so hard to use and hard to support...

But how many non-geekish people use that with the exception of FireFox?

the absolute best software I have is free. Take VirtualDub for example. It is straightforward, not bloated, and packed with features and you can easily find information on what you can do with it and how. I'll admit that some free software might be harder to figure out, but if you dont care enough to invest the time in learing about it, chances are you dont really know enough for it to matter

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: amdfanboy

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Yeah.. that free software like Apache, Ethereal, Mozilla (Firefox)... just so hard to use and hard to support...

But how many non-geekish people use that with the exception of FireFox?

whats Ethereal?

 

[So]

good question...

 

[mrCide]

packet sniffer i think?

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: amdfanboy

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Yeah.. that free software like Apache, Ethereal, Mozilla (Firefox)... just so hard to use and hard to support...

But how many non-geekish people use that with the exception of FireFox?

Apache is pretty commonly used...

America's Army
Openoffice
Kerio
Firefox
Virtualdub
Irfanview
TightVNC
Spybot

all very easy to use, very useful freeware programs.

Yeah, there's a lot of crap out there, but there's a lot of good stuff. I don't understand why some people put hours and hours of their time into making a very good program, then just give it away, but i'm glad they do.

 

[AFB]

Originally posted by: Gnurb
Give away the software, and sell the support. It's not really a new idea.

Not a bad idea.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: amdfanboy

Originally posted by: Gnurb
Give away the software, and sell the support. It's not really a new idea.

Not a bad idea.

a business built on support for software is an extremly bad business model, how many software companies can you name that have stuck with that model and made a substantial profit? Red Hat gave up and now sells everything they can including support.

 

[AFB]

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: amdfanboy

Originally posted by: Gnurb
Give away the software, and sell the support. It's not really a new idea.

Not a bad idea.

a business built on support for software is an extremly bad business model, how many software companies can you name that have stuck with that model and made a substantial profit? Red Hat gave up and now sells everything they can including support.

I was being sarcastic. The only way that would work is if all you did was support.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: amdfanboy

Originally posted by: Gnurb
Give away the software, and sell the support. It's not really a new idea.

Not a bad idea.

a business built on support for software is an extremly bad business model, how many software companies can you name that have stuck with that model and made a substantial profit? Red Hat gave up and now sells everything they can including support.

You'd better hurry up and inform IBM before their professional services division tanks...

 

[Wahsapa]

hopefully free software will force the user to acutally start to understand what a computer is, how it works, and what needs to be done to reach there particular goal. if they cant use their own computer for a specific task, like say writing a report, then they should use a type writer.

for some reason when things are free people pay attention to it more. unless they wanna pay, which is a good thing for companys because then they have product, theres really no use for free software for stupid people... yes stupid people... i know even im going to have to call in tech support for something but more often then not that is because of the companys products short comings and not mine own. people arnt just going to stop using computers. so give it 30 years and 3rd graders will know more about computer systems then you or i.

 

[DeeKnow]

i don't know what you're talking about... the best software I have (in practically every category) is free software. not just stuff that works well, but stuff that practically doesn't need support cause everything just works first time and as expected... virtualdub, tmpginc, vcdeasy, firefox....

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: Wahsapa
hopefully free software will force the user to acutally start to understand what a computer is, how it works, and what needs to be done to reach there particular goal. if they cant use their own computer for a specific task, like say writing a report, then they should use a type writer.

for some reason when things are free people pay attention to it more. unless they wanna pay, which is a good thing for companys because then they have product, theres really no use for free software for stupid people... yes stupid people... i know even im going to have to call in tech support for something but more often then not that is because of the companys products short comings and not mine own. people arnt just going to stop using computers. so give it 30 years and 3rd graders will know more about computer systems then you or i.

a select group of third graders will know more than you and i, and will be charging us for their services Computers arn't terribly difficult to use now, yet people still are completely befuddled by their function, even though all they know is turn on, screen comes on, use mouse to move arrow, use funny keything to enter into computer.

though it's possible that everyone will learn to use a computer well, i see it just as likely that others who invest the time to learn computers will be given out lots of tech support.....

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: amdfanboy

Originally posted by: Gnurb
Give away the software, and sell the support. It's not really a new idea.

Not a bad idea.

a business built on support for software is an extremly bad business model, how many software companies can you name that have stuck with that model and made a substantial profit? Red Hat gave up and now sells everything they can including support.

You'd better hurry up and inform IBM before their professional services division tanks...

IBM makes their money on consulting fees, not support linux. the reason they back linux so hard is because they know the solution systems they have are too complicated for average businesses to establish themselves then come ibm global services to ass rape you and then when you think you are done with the raping, they call their hardware guys and rape you with some new ibm server product they are selling.

 

[Gnurb]

Whether IBM is making money on consulting, HW, or support is irrelevent to the prolification of free software. The bottom line is they're making lots of money, customers are coming back to them, and they're majorly supporting linux because it's to their advantage. As a side effect they're weakening Microsoft and giving consumers and companies more options for their desktop. Choice is GOOD.