The free software movement bothers me because it seems to imply that workers do not deserve compensation.

it only implies it to people that don't understand free software. it is a popular myth that free software eschews commericialism. it eschews corporate control, but not profit. my advice is learn more about the free software movement before (accidentally) aiding the construction of straw men.


> I guess to some degree this makes sense, though, since programming isn't usually physically taxing, and is normally done in air-conditioned environments while seated.

it's got nothing to do with that, and while free software is global, central air is not so much.


> The advocates say, "well, they're doing it on a volunteer basis,"

they are not always volunteering. a bounty is either a fee offered to someone if they contribute to free software, or, a task that will be completed, for a fee. the programmer still gets paid (often, there is volunteering, have you ever used "freeware?") but paying for each copy of the software is always optional.

for those that think this can't work, consider the firefox is the open version of netscape, and netscape is no more... even though most people got netscape "without paying for it..." included with modems they bought.


> but it still encourages a culture where people work without getting paid.

no, it encourages a culture where people work for each other, without money as the middleman. but how much it encourages that is debateable. free software is equally compatible with capitalism, communism, and socialism, because it isn't really part of any of those things- except in myth.


> It encourages software vendors to pay their workers less

that's patently untrue. microsoft pays people in india all the time to code, because indian work is cheaper.


> For example, if FreeBASIC or QB64 are successful, it could eat into the revenue of PowerBASIC and TrueBASIC, and then these companies will pay their workers less, or hire less workers, in order to stay afloat.

well, netscape went out of business because microsoft bundled ie with every operating system that went out. that's just business, unless you ask the dept of justice, before the bill and melinda gates foundation hired the country's best p.r. firm to help bush's 2000 election. it's been quiet at the doj ever since. but that is business.

netscape open sourced into the mozilla foundation. all they seem to have done is attacked microsoft's illegal monopoly. i thought monopoly was bad for businses?


> Similar on larger scale with GNU/Linux and Microsoft, Apple, etc.

apple? apple uses an operating system based on free software.


> People say there is a true physical difference between software and hardware, and that software should be free because it doesn't cost much to copy or transfer, whereas hardware always requires considerable resources to manufacture, but actually all software is physical, just as physical as hardware, even if it is just temporarily residing in RAM. It's physical on a microcopic scale.

the context of that argument is that when you buy hardware, you own the hardware. the software is leased. free software is not owned, it is shared per the terms of the license, but the license legally entitles you to "keep" and "modify" and "share" what someone pays for... not just use it per a very strict eula that says basically, "you can only use this once, a certain way, and not even modify it to your own needs."


> I guess another way to look at it though is that volunteer organizations have always existed, charity has long existed, so there can be volunteer organizations within computer software, as well, and companies will still exist.

yeah, i don't know when people helping people became a bad thing. for all the people that tell me this is a christian nation, they seem to worship the rich and damn the poor. what happened to the meek shall inherit the earth?


> Besides, a lot of the successful free software is kind of secretly backed by money anyway, like Shuttleworth and Ubuntu or Google

it's not a secret, it's the puzzle piece that you have to leave out for your above points about compensation to have any merit. mark shuttleworth has invested in something he can benefit from, and in turn, that benefits me, and any other user. google has built a commerical *business* that could take on microsoft, and in return they get to use a billion copies of free operating systems, which they might, and they get to modify it to their own needs, as they have.

you can't have it both ways, saying that it hurts business and that it really is a business. but it's a business where everyone gives back to everyone, so much unlike microsoft.


> I know that PowerBASIC and other vendors will continue to exist, because QB64's "hello, world" .exe takes up like 800kb,

this is temporary and has been addressed. there have been more than 7 demos, numbered "demo 1" (or 0.1) to 0.79, since 1 year ago. the way around 800k "hello world" is outlined, simple, and a lower priority right now. functionality matters more right now, including compatibility.


> so there is no competition, but I'm thinking more towards the future and the big picture side of things.

no, you're arguing individual points based on popular (but misguided) anti-foss mythology. i don't think it's malicious. i used the word "misguided."


> So many people I know deride you for using Microsoft's products.

people are people. they are tired of being manipulated by microsoft, who is terribly draconian and restrictive toward the paying user. you can say "well it's their right..." but the customer is king. if you make enough of them angry, that anger will go places it doesn't need to, but i don't think it's justified... just understandable.


> They look down on you for using commercial software. I don't understand it.

i think sometimes they are unfair, and sometimes, it is perceived when it's not there... but either way, there are plenty of more reasonable free-software users than the ones you mention. free software is not a group of people, it's an idea. people that share the idea vary.

the condescending ones are often unhelpful to the movement, they increase the frustration of people like yourself.


> The stuff in the GNu/Linux world seems to largely be just imitation of commercial software.

to make this claim you would have to be very familiar with the history of software. windows becomes more and more like macintosh... vista is more like os/x, xp is more like imac, 9x is more like old macs, but with color.

microsoft went to apple in the 80s to create a gui-based operating system. apple laughed them out, then made one anyway.

bill gates "got the idea" when he saw the gui at xerox's palo alto labs. microsoft has never invented much of anything, they imitate other people. dos is an imitation based on the code for q-dos, but digital research (dr-dos) did not give up the rights to it, they shared it for a fee.

in case you don't follow: windows is one imitation after another. and you know what? it's okay. but not when they try to stop it there.

as for patents, microsft windows violates many patents owned by other people. that issue is far too complicated to get into here.


> Why is imitation such a wonderful thing? I dislike that I live in a culture that values imitation.

well, your entire post "imitates" idea-for-idea a very popular set of misconceptions. i don't know if you came up with the misconceptions on your own... i know some of the examples in my reply are ones i came up, i wrote this post myself, but without the free exchange of ideas it would not be possible to say or do very much.

i dislike that i live in a culture that does not go to more trouble to understand the situations they comment on. please don't take that personally, for all the billions of people that do it, you have been one of the more reasonable.

i hope you understand that i don't think you're stupid, i think you're spreading a myth that is unfair, ill-informed and contradictory. but we've all done that once or twice. it doesn't make you different than anyone, i just personally think it makes you very mistaken about this thing.