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Young Programmer, Stop Advocating Free Software!

Lansdowne writes "Clemens Vasters, in an open letter to a young developer he met at a software conference, asks him to consider the consequences of writing software for free. "Software is the immediate result and the manifestation of what your learned and what you know. How much is that worth? Nothing? Think again."" While I don't particularly agree with all of the points made here, this is the type of question that needs to be answered to continue to get people involved in Free/Open/Libre/GNU/whatever source/software/code.

8 of 1,452 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Site slashdot'ed befor it went live by dnoyeb · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Good catch considering there are only 10 posts and I can not read the link already.

    Ahh the wonders of DSL...

  2. OT: Re:slashdotted, article text by Reinout · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Yeah, right, thanks :-) I kept the article window open when I noticed the site was pretty slow already. Copy-pasted the text once the story went live. Thought to do a bit of a service. Got modded down "redundant" within a few seconds.

    I actually landed the second comment, which is *fast*. It's just that somebody else posted the same article text a few milliseconds earlier. I mean, what is the chance of the first two posts being actually useful.

    Ah, being redundant with the second comment :-)

    Reinout

  3. Re:Site slashdot'ed befor it went live by FictionPimp · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Capt. Ed: The rock star methos is a lie! Its like when you belive in the easter bunny, or the sasquash. JB: The sasquash isn't real? Sasquash, we know your love is reeeeeeaaaaal! Sorry. That letter sounds exactly like that Tenatious D episode.

  4. Re:Site slashdot'ed befor it went live by appelflapje · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    To sum it up:

    1. Write Open Source Software
    2. ????
    3. PROFIT!

  5. Re:Eeeep. by ultramk · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    and if that girl suddenly starts liking me because of my "big-load-o-cash"(tm), I probably wont like her anymore.

    No, and nor should you. But there are other forces at work. There are lots of considerate, intelligent, desirable women who will simply not even consider getting involved with someone if they don't have a steady job and pretty much have their shit together.

    Most women are not looking for a "fixer-upper" boyfriend. Is this gold-digging? Of course not. They just want someone who can carry his own weight, and doesn't live in his parents' basement.

    Believe it or not, but making a decent living is one good clue that a guy is not a complete loser/drug addict/lazy-good-for-nothing. Are there exceptions, of course there are, but they ARE exceptions.

    Personally, I wouldn't get involved with a girl who can't hold a job. (at least, not again) Being able to show up for work on time and do her job without getting canned once a month is a clue that she isn't a complete flake. Being reliable and smart is one of the things that attracted me to my wife (aside from the fact that she's a hottie).

    Let's face it. If you're not grown-up enough to make a living on your own, you're probably not grown-up enough to be date-worthy.

    Of course, this would be an unpopular opinion here, where most of us, myself included, have been penniless geeks at one point or another. That doesn't mean it's wrong.

    m-

    --
    You catch enchiladas by picking them up behind the head and holding them underwater until they don't kick anymore -VeGas
  6. Poets, cartoonists, never do anything for free! by Anonymous+Custard · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Young poets, do not go and read your poems in coffee houses for free. Cartoonists! Never share your sketchbook with friends. Demand payment, and help the capitalist system prosper. I mean, imagine where we'd be if we all started sharing?

  7. Re:MOD PARENT DOWN -- Troll by Viol8 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Yeah thats right. Anyone who expresses an opinion on here that doesn't go with the standard issue everything-should-be-free status quo is a troll.
    Grow up.

  8. Re:net result by I_Love_Pocky! · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I can't believe I was marked as a Troll. Nothing I said was irrational. Maybe you don't agree with it, but that doesn't mean it is a deliberate attempt to be argumenative. I really meant it. Why does an oppinion have to be thrashed like that?

    My only conclusion is that who ever modded me down can't handle the idea I don't like the current state of the OS movement. Why should the moderator's personal feelings on the matter make me a Troll???