Is linux free 4978

HalcyonWild

The Linux vendors are selling support *for* the software not the actual software itself. All the vendors do make the software available for download - sometimes a bit later than the supported version.

Even at these prices it's cheap to buy Linux. Since when did you get a fully functional Office Suite, Professional quality graphics program, C compiler, etc included in the price of other OSs?

RH, Suse and Mandrake all write 'their own code' as well. The difference is that it's contributed to the community. e.g. RPM is Red Hat software, Yast is Suse software, etc. This way everyone benefits from the open source efforts of the few.

It's funny you say that MS write 'some of their own' code, as they've been caught several times stealing other people's code. MS should be writing *all* their own code anything else is theft.

Correct. That's how free software works. Free as in freedom to do what you want within the limits of the public licence.

The bugs in Fedora are part and parcel of dealing with cutting-edge releases - it can be a bit hairy. If you don't like it don't use Fedora, simple. This is part of community-based testing: the community finds problems, the vendor fixes them and releases them back into the community. It's not just RH et al that benefit, but everyone. Anyone has access to the enterprise version of the software (see CentOS or WhiteBox Linux).

Why?

The people who write the code have to be paid something. They can't live on fresh air alone. IMHO, the cost of Linux is minimal compared to what you get from the compebreastion.

No. Things have changed a bit, that's all. If you what free (as in free of charge) versions of Linux you have to look a little harder (e.g. www.distrowatch.com not that hard really).

Distros like debian, which are free in all senses of the word, mean that Linux will never disappear, but if we really want Linux to compete with the Microsoft's of this world it has to start being profitable.

Chris.