Hi all, I was just going through this long, but quickly developed thread & I was compelled to say a few words about the mails in it.
First of all, I feel(personally), that having broadband connectivity will just act as a catalyst. It may increase the awareness of people using computers(includes all, even IT professionals) towards OSS, but I completely disagree, even after all this discussion, to the statement that having a faster connection will definitely make OSS/FS more popular. People(again, including all), will at the most *try out* Open Source app.s, but they will not get into relying on them completely if they feel there's a better option around, what if paid & closed. People associated with, and aware of, the OSS/FS movement need to be constantly aware, that however "Free"(as in beer, as well as speech) software gets, people are able to develop it in their "free time", BECAUSE their busy times are taken care of by some money-generating activity. This may be a research grant in many cases, or simply a steady job. Let's face it, no one's going to die hungry writing OSS(and that should not happen, too). Having said that, it seems, some life-support system(a.k.a. money) is the indirectly driving force behind any such activity. Though it may seem quite ironical, Free software will be driven by money, in one way or the other. The other most powerful force is the Mindset, as all others have already said. Though we may be able to win many people's minds, & convert them into OSS users, they will & should always only look at things which are simply the best. And here comes the second truth: many programs(OSS/FS) that we use today, are still not at the mark when it comes to working features. There are many, which are really excellent & competitive(e.g. Mozilla, to some extent OOo, Eclipse), but OSS has a long way to go. SO, WHAT SHOULD WE DO? Organizations like Mandrake, RedHat, Turbolinux, SuSe etc. do sell their 'Products', which are well-packaged, at a small price. I implore you all to consider buying their offerrings, instead of paying the ISPs & telephone companies a fortune to download & using them for free. This cuts in two directions. It adds to the sales volumes of OSS promoting companies(so, officially competing propri. software) & at the same time makes these companies stronger to go ahead & develop high-quality software. Well, do let me know what everyone feels about this & my appologies if anyone is hurt :). Regards, Viraj -- ______________________________________________________________________ Pune GNU/Linux Users Group Mailing List: ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) List Information: http://plug.org.in/mailing-list/listinfo/plug-mail Send 'help' to [EMAIL PROTECTED] for mailing instructions.
