[wplug] Wi-Fi Mapping in the Press [rant included]

[Jonathan S Billings]

Brent M. Rust wrote:
> It's funny to hear someone in a Linux group say that FREE anything is a
> bad idea. 
> Maybe it's the people that steal the bandwidth that are the problem, not
> that free bandwidth is available. IMO

I think that you might be confused about the complex definition of 
"Free" in terms of open source.  In simple terms, making copies of bits 
of information has so little overhead that it can be considered zero 
cost, so giving people that information at no cost is fine.  However, 
the media used to give the information is not free.  It is a real, 
physical structure that costs money to maintain and support.  In the 
example mentioned, it costs money to pay for the networking equipment, 
the ISP account and people to maintain the system.  If you believe that 
spending that money will increase revenue overall, then it makes sense. 
  If it won't, then it doesn't make sense to give it out for free, or to 
even offer it at all.


It really bugs me that people think that a linux group is just a bunch 
of cheap folks who don't want to pay for anything.  I don't want to come 
off like Richard Stallman, but the Open Source Movement is about much 
more than an inexpensive alternative to windows.  I'm very much against 
software piracy and stealing music for the same reason why I prefer to 
use open source software, because of the philosophy behind it.


-- 
Jonathan S. Billings <billings at negate.org>