[sdiy] PCB/Schematic software

[Colin f]

> I think you're not quite understanding this. This is not just 
> something people do on "their spare time" but in fact there 
> are several companies having open source products, the thing 
> is just that they're earning their money other ways then 
> selling the product (support for instance). 

More companies are making more money by "adding value" to free software
without any of the expense of developing it, or fixing bugs.

> As far as i'm concerned, this is a very 
> functional implementation of pseudo-socialist and communal 
> ideas

That's why it's doomed to failure.
There will always be corrupt and greedy men happy to take the rewards from
the efforts of others.
To paraphrase, the problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other
people's spare time.

> The idea that Open Source software isn't "as good" as other 
> software is BS (and something i hear from time to time from 
> people who refuse to believe that Open Source is a good 
> thing), this should be quite evident simply by looking at how 
> many Linux servers are out there.

Did you watch the video Neil posted the link to about motivation ?
Open software can be far better than commercial software, because the
developers are motivated by the challenge and sense of accomplishment.
Motivation + ability == better code.
Sadly, the ones who benefit from their efforts are the hardware vendors,
shifting server boxes and selling 'consultancy' to the corporations that buy
them, where the consultants just act as a middle-men between paying
customers and unpaid developers.
Too cynical ?

Cheers,
Colin f