On Jan 11, 2006, at 02:24, Steven Shelton wrote:
Simon Phipps wrote:I was with you at the beginning of that, Don, but I'm surprised to hear you saying "free R&D" given what you've written on LXer recently. It's not free/gratis. It costs every one of us time, many of us money as well. As the cost of the R & D is not bourne by a single entity, you're right that it's pointless to try to estimate a dollar value for it unless you also establish the exchange rate. But it's not free/gratis. Each community member invests according to their ability and goals, and they do so because they expect to see a return on that investment on their own terms and timescale.I think that what he was saying is that it's free to the company that takes advantage of it, not to the people who actually do the R&D.
While there are contexts in which it's perhaps reasonable to say that, *in the context Don is discussing* I'd assert that's missing the point. That only works if you think you're an island[1]. Each of us has to put in effort, and each of us will yield a return. Saying that compared to Microsoft's $50bn investment all of F/OSS is free both perpetuates the abuse of the word "free" and perpetuates the idea that open source is about freeloading.
It only matters in Don's original context though. Not worth an argument :-)
S. [1] http://polyticks.com/home/Visions/NoManIsl.htm
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