FAQ - Revision history

Sahilister: minor grammatical refactoring

2020-10-21T04:40:38Z

minor grammatical refactoring

Sahilister: add another answer to "why contribute to free software?"

2020-10-13T22:02:15Z

add another answer to "why contribute to free software?"

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:32, 14 October 2020
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	==Why contribute to Free Software?==		==Why contribute to Free Software?==

	~~What do I get by contributing to Free Software?~~		While free software enables other small and big bossiness, proprietary software make it's users dependent on the company producing the software. If you need support for an Apple product you need to go to Apple. Companies like Apple makes sure that nobody else can help their users with their services or products but them. They license their software in a way that trying to reverse engineer their software is a federal crime. Such companies are more interested in building walls so that their customers stay inside with them, dependent on them.
	While free software enables other small and big bossiness, proprietary software make it's users ~~dependant~~ on the company producing the software. If you need support for an Apple product you need to go to Apple. Companies like Apple makes sure that nobody else can help their users with their services or products but them. They license their software in a way that trying to reverse engineer their software is a federal crime. Such companies are more interested in building walls so that their customers stay inside with them, dependent on them.

	* [http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/like-poetry-for-software/article4369679.ece Prof Rahul De of IIM Bangalore compares creating FOSS to writing poetry in his article on The Hindu]		* [http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/like-poetry-for-software/article4369679.ece Prof Rahul De of IIM Bangalore compares creating FOSS to writing poetry in his article on The Hindu]

Sahilister at 22:01, 13 October 2020

2020-10-13T22:01:23Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:31, 14 October 2020
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	What do I get by contributing to Free Software?		What do I get by contributing to Free Software?
			While free software enables other small and big bossiness, proprietary software make it's users dependant on the company producing the software. If you need support for an Apple product you need to go to Apple. Companies like Apple makes sure that nobody else can help their users with their services or products but them. They license their software in a way that trying to reverse engineer their software is a federal crime. Such companies are more interested in building walls so that their customers stay inside with them, dependent on them.

	* [http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/like-poetry-for-software/article4369679.ece Prof Rahul De of IIM Bangalore compares creating FOSS to writing poetry in his article on The Hindu]		* [http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/like-poetry-for-software/article4369679.ece Prof Rahul De of IIM Bangalore compares creating FOSS to writing poetry in his article on The Hindu]

Sahilister: change sequence of questions to better align the economical part of free software

2020-10-13T21:59:42Z

change sequence of questions to better align the economical part of free software

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:29, 14 October 2020
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	If two companies A and B make the same kind of software and if A's product becomes successful and because of that the B goes bankrupt can you blame A for that? People make money from free software so it really doesn't create unemployment.		If two companies A and B make the same kind of software and if A's product becomes successful and because of that the B goes bankrupt can you blame A for that? People make money from free software so it really doesn't create unemployment.

	~~==How do I start contributing to FOSS?==~~

	Start using FOSS, Share/Blog what you found out (it works out of the box, you needed to tweak something to get it working...), Help others in mailing list, forums..., Write documentation, Request for features, Submit bugs, Try fixing some bugs ar adding new features... [[DummyGuideToContributing\|Here]] is a detailed guide.

	==Does Free Software guarantee a job?==		==Does Free Software guarantee a job?==
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	At the same you can get free of cost with CentOS if you don't want any support. People still pay of RHEL when CentOS is free of cost and it is functionality identical. They take RHEL source code and rebuild it without Red Hat's name and trademarks.		At the same you can get free of cost with CentOS if you don't want any support. People still pay of RHEL when CentOS is free of cost and it is functionality identical. They take RHEL source code and rebuild it without Red Hat's name and trademarks.

			==How do I start contributing to FOSS?==

			Start using FOSS, Share/Blog what you found out (it works out of the box, you needed to tweak something to get it working...), Help others in mailing list, forums..., Write documentation, Request for features, Submit bugs, Try fixing some bugs ar adding new features... [[DummyGuideToContributing\|Here]] is a detailed guide.

	==Why contribute to Free Software?==		==Why contribute to Free Software?==

Sahilister: /* Is Free Software Secure than proprietary software? */ update question to correct grammar

2020-10-13T21:58:06Z

Is Free Software Secure than proprietary software?: update question to correct grammar

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:28, 14 October 2020
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	Here we List out different questions asked to us by college going students, and possible and given answers.		Here we List out different questions asked to us by college going students, and possible and given answers.

	==Is Free Software ~~Secure~~ than proprietary software?==		==Is Free Software securer than proprietary software?==
	As to how is Free Software more secure than proprietary software even though the source code of Free Software is available for everyone to edit whereas the source code for proprietary software is not available?		As to how is Free Software more secure than proprietary software even though the source code of Free Software is available for everyone to edit whereas the source code for proprietary software is not available?

Sahilister: /* Does Free Software guarantees a job? */ add answer to question from free software camp 2020 matrix discussions

2020-10-13T21:56:47Z

Does Free Software guarantees a job?: add answer to question from free software camp 2020 matrix discussions

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:26, 14 October 2020
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	Start using FOSS, Share/Blog what you found out (it works out of the box, you needed to tweak something to get it working...), Help others in mailing list, forums..., Write documentation, Request for features, Submit bugs, Try fixing some bugs ar adding new features... [[DummyGuideToContributing\|Here]] is a detailed guide.		Start using FOSS, Share/Blog what you found out (it works out of the box, you needed to tweak something to get it working...), Help others in mailing list, forums..., Write documentation, Request for features, Submit bugs, Try fixing some bugs ar adding new features... [[DummyGuideToContributing\|Here]] is a detailed guide.

	==Does Free Software ~~guarantees~~ a job?==		==Does Free Software guarantee a job?==
			''Anyone can study then contribute to our society without any financial benefit through free software concept. At the same time I have a doubt if it can is it assure a job? "

			Do you think every lawyer gets paid the same fees? Even though every lawyer studies the same law. No.

			Also, why do people go to a lawyer if they can study the law themselves and argue their own cases in court? Because people do not have the time to learn every trade out there and shouldn't have to either. So instead they depend on other people who are professionals and fairly compensate them for their skill, time and effort.

			Indeed, free software support works like that even though everyone can learn it, people still pay for expertise as people say time is money, so you can probably invest time to solve problems or pay someone who knows it well, around 13000 for RHEL workstation and people pay for it many people don't mind paying that much money to Red Hat (similarly for SUSE or Canonical) so it is not always chosen because it is free of cost.

			At the same you can get free of cost with CentOS if you don't want any support. People still pay of RHEL when CentOS is free of cost and it is functionality identical. They take RHEL source code and rebuild it without Red Hat's name and trademarks.

	==Why contribute to Free Software?==		==Why contribute to Free Software?==

Sahilister: add "Does Free Software guarantees a job?" question

2020-10-13T21:48:43Z

add "Does Free Software guarantees a job?" question

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:18, 14 October 2020
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	Start using FOSS, Share/Blog what you found out (it works out of the box, you needed to tweak something to get it working...), Help others in mailing list, forums..., Write documentation, Request for features, Submit bugs, Try fixing some bugs ar adding new features... [[DummyGuideToContributing\|Here]] is a detailed guide.		Start using FOSS, Share/Blog what you found out (it works out of the box, you needed to tweak something to get it working...), Help others in mailing list, forums..., Write documentation, Request for features, Submit bugs, Try fixing some bugs ar adding new features... [[DummyGuideToContributing\|Here]] is a detailed guide.

			==Does Free Software guarantees a job?==

	==Why contribute to Free Software?==		==Why contribute to Free Software?==

Sahilister: /* Does free software affects survival of a company and creates unemployment? */ add answer from free software camp 2020 matrix discussions

2020-10-13T21:36:50Z

Does free software affects survival of a company and creates unemployment?: add answer from free software camp 2020 matrix discussions

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:06, 14 October 2020
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	“I want to ask you why that question is worth asking. First there are many people who don't have to make money. Importantly even if a person has to make a living, he doesn't have to make a living from everything he does. Lots of people develop free software in their free time and there are people who have to make a living, and they do make a living. To jump from, this person is not rich and therefore has to work, to, this person can't write free software because he is not paid to write it, is an error. There are over a million contributors to free software, a substantial fraction is getting paid and a majority are volunteers. I suspect the reason people bring up this question of economics as a secondary detail is because they are laboring under the misconception that the free software community is impossible, unless the developers are getting paid.”		“I want to ask you why that question is worth asking. First there are many people who don't have to make money. Importantly even if a person has to make a living, he doesn't have to make a living from everything he does. Lots of people develop free software in their free time and there are people who have to make a living, and they do make a living. To jump from, this person is not rich and therefore has to work, to, this person can't write free software because he is not paid to write it, is an error. There are over a million contributors to free software, a substantial fraction is getting paid and a majority are volunteers. I suspect the reason people bring up this question of economics as a secondary detail is because they are laboring under the misconception that the free software community is impossible, unless the developers are getting paid.”

	==Does free software ~~affects~~ survival of a company and creates unemployment?==		==Does free software affect survival of a company and creates unemployment?==
			''Every company exists in doing different software. Their survival depends on the profit they make when they sell it, but when free software replaces it, it affects the survival of the company and creates unemployment?''

			I would argue that today the product offering is not just the software but also the support and assurances the company making the software can provide its clients. Corporate value stability and support. Most corporate don't mind spending money on software if they can get better support and stability. In fact most free software companies make money by providing paid customer support and additional features their clients (which are usually other companies) might need.

			A software that you release under free/libre license does not make it unsalable. It's a misconception. A software that you develop can be easily customized and deployed by your company since you have the expertise yourself. If it is a free software program, the sale factor will depend on marketing it, expertise and customization for the client's use case you can claim. If it is a free software service you host and sell the access to easily use it and customization. In both cases, there is the option to charge to customize an existing free software or your own software to your client's workflow. If you look at the jobs in software field, a huge majority are for creating custom software or private software, i.e. there is only one maker for that software, and they pay for the development fully. This will not be affected by free software at all.

			Free software cannot replace all software jobs. Now coming to a small percentage of software jobs replaced by free software. It actually opens up more opportunities for local employment as more people can now offer support and customization. So it is good for local economy. The opportunities increase to all under free software, unless you consider a monopoly which constricts growth of others by accumulating resources and access locking it down as the only growth path. If you look at the Janayugom migration to Free Software, earlier they were paying only Adobe, now a local company provided migration services (some of them are in this group). So it was also new jobs. Janayugom newspaper switched to 100% Free Software for publishing from Adobe PageMaker to Scribus. If Free Software was not an option, these companies would be charging much higher price for all their products.

			If two companies A and B make the same kind of software and if A's product becomes successful and because of that the B goes bankrupt can you blame A for that? People make money from free software so it really doesn't create unemployment.

	==How do I start contributing to FOSS?==		==How do I start contributing to FOSS?==

Sahilister: add "Does free software affects survival of a company and creates unemployment?" question

2020-10-13T21:01:58Z

add "Does free software affects survival of a company and creates unemployment?" question

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:31, 14 October 2020
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	source achieves just that :) And explain to him his data will still be		source achieves just that :) And explain to him his data will still be
	confidential and its not 'open data' :) <ref>[http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/pipermail/ilugc/2007-March/033195.html Antano Solar's explanation in ILUG Chennai]</ref>		confidential and its not 'open data' :) <ref>[http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/pipermail/ilugc/2007-March/033195.html Antano Solar's explanation in ILUG Chennai]</ref>


	[http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/pipermail/ilugc/2007-March/033115.html A discussion on ilug Chennai]		[http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/pipermail/ilugc/2007-March/033115.html A discussion on ilug Chennai]
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	“I want to ask you why that question is worth asking. First there are many people who don't have to make money. Importantly even if a person has to make a living, he doesn't have to make a living from everything he does. Lots of people develop free software in their free time and there are people who have to make a living, and they do make a living. To jump from, this person is not rich and therefore has to work, to, this person can't write free software because he is not paid to write it, is an error. There are over a million contributors to free software, a substantial fraction is getting paid and a majority are volunteers. I suspect the reason people bring up this question of economics as a secondary detail is because they are laboring under the misconception that the free software community is impossible, unless the developers are getting paid.”		“I want to ask you why that question is worth asking. First there are many people who don't have to make money. Importantly even if a person has to make a living, he doesn't have to make a living from everything he does. Lots of people develop free software in their free time and there are people who have to make a living, and they do make a living. To jump from, this person is not rich and therefore has to work, to, this person can't write free software because he is not paid to write it, is an error. There are over a million contributors to free software, a substantial fraction is getting paid and a majority are volunteers. I suspect the reason people bring up this question of economics as a secondary detail is because they are laboring under the misconception that the free software community is impossible, unless the developers are getting paid.”

			==Does free software affects survival of a company and creates unemployment?==


	==How do I start contributing to FOSS?==		==How do I start contributing to FOSS?==

Sahilister: Change sequence to have questions on economics of free software together

2020-10-13T20:59:28Z

Change sequence to have questions on economics of free software together

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:29, 14 October 2020
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	Being a free software developer doesn't mean you can't charge a customer for our efforts. If there is a demand and if you are building a software to fill it, you can ask money for development. The proprietary business model is based on squeezing maximum profit from a product. I must say, if the focus is on profit, the free software model won't be able to provide as much as the proprietary model but that doesn't mean we won't get enough for our needs. There is always a moral/social contract element involved (intentional or non-intentional) in free software development.		Being a free software developer doesn't mean you can't charge a customer for our efforts. If there is a demand and if you are building a software to fill it, you can ask money for development. The proprietary business model is based on squeezing maximum profit from a product. I must say, if the focus is on profit, the free software model won't be able to provide as much as the proprietary model but that doesn't mean we won't get enough for our needs. There is always a moral/social contract element involved (intentional or non-intentional) in free software development.

	~~==How do I start contributing to FOSS?==~~

	Start using FOSS, Share/Blog what you found out (it works out of the box, you needed to tweak something to get it working...), Help others in mailing list, forums..., Write documentation, Request for features, Submit bugs, Try fixing some bugs ar adding new features... [[DummyGuideToContributing\|Here]] is a detailed guide.

	==What kind of an economic model does an entrepreneur look at when he starts out with free software? ==		==What kind of an economic model does an entrepreneur look at when he starts out with free software? ==
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	“I want to ask you why that question is worth asking. First there are many people who don't have to make money. Importantly even if a person has to make a living, he doesn't have to make a living from everything he does. Lots of people develop free software in their free time and there are people who have to make a living, and they do make a living. To jump from, this person is not rich and therefore has to work, to, this person can't write free software because he is not paid to write it, is an error. There are over a million contributors to free software, a substantial fraction is getting paid and a majority are volunteers. I suspect the reason people bring up this question of economics as a secondary detail is because they are laboring under the misconception that the free software community is impossible, unless the developers are getting paid.”		“I want to ask you why that question is worth asking. First there are many people who don't have to make money. Importantly even if a person has to make a living, he doesn't have to make a living from everything he does. Lots of people develop free software in their free time and there are people who have to make a living, and they do make a living. To jump from, this person is not rich and therefore has to work, to, this person can't write free software because he is not paid to write it, is an error. There are over a million contributors to free software, a substantial fraction is getting paid and a majority are volunteers. I suspect the reason people bring up this question of economics as a secondary detail is because they are laboring under the misconception that the free software community is impossible, unless the developers are getting paid.”

			==How do I start contributing to FOSS?==

			Start using FOSS, Share/Blog what you found out (it works out of the box, you needed to tweak something to get it working...), Help others in mailing list, forums..., Write documentation, Request for features, Submit bugs, Try fixing some bugs ar adding new features... [[DummyGuideToContributing\|Here]] is a detailed guide.

	==Why contribute to Free Software?==		==Why contribute to Free Software?==