[ic] Frustrated with IC 4.8

Sturgisrally.net interchange-users@interchange.redhat.com
Mon Sep 17 14:32:01 2001


There are a few problems with charging for this mailing list ...

First off open source software if free because the original author wanted to
share the wealth of knowlege with everyone and thought that the project
could be made better with help of the world instead of the limitations of a
single group.

RedHat Inc makes plenty of money selling their documentation on this
program.  I for one bought all 4 books (Very Very Well Written) but there
are still a few issues that are not covered.

If you start charging for this board you will make it impossible for some to
use the software.  Although most could afford a nominal fee there are a lot
of people out there who cannot.

Lastly RedHat would be charging for our knowledge all and making a
profit on what we have learned and shared freely over the years.

Just my 2 cents,

Corey

corey@sturgisrally.net
www.sturgisrally.net the worlds first linux powered biker bar  =)





> I would definately support paying a fee for this list. I am unsure of a
number.
> Enough that it makes it worth while, but not too much that a lot of
startups or
> college students, etc can not afford it.
>
> Yeck, I am going to join a Cocker Spaniel email list that charges, its
minimal,
> but its something.....I think Interchange should charge for this support
list.
>
> Also for everyone complaining about bugs and such. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!
This
> is free open source software, if you see a bug, fix it and send it in!
Enuf said!
> If you need help, post your question and I am sure many are glad to help.
Are you
> totally clueless?? Maybe pay someone at RedHat to get you started and to
the
> point where you can utilize this group. Also, READ the TAG REFERENCE in
full, and
> all other documentation.  I haven't done all the above, I am working on
reading
> the reference guide, so far I think its written fairly decent.
>
> Nathan
>
> IC-Admin wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 17 Sep 2001 mheins@redhat.com wrote:
> > [snip]
> >
> > >
> > > If everyone who was on the mail list was spending money with Red Hat,
using
> > > our support services, instead of downloading the program for free
> > > and then using the mail list, we would, I guarantee, devote more
resources
> > > to improving the program. We don't expect that, of course, but the
fact
> > > remains that There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.
> > >
> > > The only way we will get more resources is for people to spend money
> > > with us. There are some ways to do this. You can purchase the
E-commerce
> > > suite and get a year's worth of support with people to answer your
> > > questions as they come up. Or, you can retain us for a few hours of
> > > technical support so we can answer your questions and provide
guidance.
> > >
> > > The predecessor to Interchange, Minivend, was largely supported by
> > > the clients who engaged me to do work for them based on Minivend.
> > > Most of them have never inhabited the mail list, so you wouldn't
> > > know them. But they had as much, no more, to do with the longevity
> > > of Interchange than anyone. If I hadn't been able to eat, then
> > > I would have done something else.
> > >
> > > It can come in the form of small self-contained contributions
> > > to the documentation or utilities -- the work of various people on
> > > payment systems is an example. Or it can come in the form of
> > > money. All help.
> > >
> >
> > Dear Mike and all other contributing IC developers,
> >
> > as someone who discovered in a long process of questioning myself, that
> > the only way, I could help, would be with money, I like to add something
> > with regards to monetary donations.
> >
> > There might be enough people among us, who really have no current need
> > to develop a site for themselves or are not that experienced to do such
> > work for others, but who know enough about the history of Interchange
> > and understand, that, may be in the future, they might use IC as paying
> > customer of Red Hat, but currently don't and can't. Nevertheless those
> > among us still follow up on IC and read regularly this list and save
> > the "goodies" for future use.
> >
> > I often felt that the technical help given on this (as well as other
> > technical support mailing lists of OSS applications) is the most
valuable
> > thing given away for free, aside from the open source code  itself.
> >
> > Therefore I really think, that this list should get a "price",
> > which reflects the support IC users should give to say thanks for a free
> > software package and to affirm, that we are willing to acknowledge the
> > volunteer service on this list by the ones, who are IC knowledgable.
> >
> > I made once a general suggestion like that on a familiar and often used
> > forum of the Open/Free Source community in this regard and got (at least
> > to me) a devastating answer. Noone wanted to consider this option of
> > supporting an OSS project. I wondered why the response was so negative.
> > But, that shouldn't deter me from trying it here again.
> >
> > I know that asking for some registration fees for this mailing lists
> > might only make a relative small amount of money compared to hiring you
> > folks for a project or buying the commercial package. But on the other
> > hand there might just be enough "very small" businesses or "poor
> > individuals", who would be willing to pay a registration fee to this
list,
> > to make a small difference.
> >
> > I propose a monthly registration fee to this mailing list to collect
> > money for development and documentation support. I like to know, who
would
> > support this idea and what you consider a price, which would reflect the
> > value of help you are getting here.
> >
> > Birgitt Funk
> >
> > > Mike
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > interchange-users mailing list
> > interchange-users@interchange.redhat.com
> > http://interchange.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/interchange-users
>
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