I paid for MS Office in 2003 and in 2007. Apart from games, that's the only software I ever paid for (other than the Windows license presumably incorporated int

I paid for MS Office in 2003 and in 2007. Apart from games, that's the only software I ever paid for (other than the Windows license presumably incorporated into the price of the handful of already-built computers I bought). I used open source software on Windows, and I carried that habit over when I switched to Linux. I have only ever paid for games on Linux, because everything I have needed has a satisfactory FOSS alternative. Hell, I bought a macbook a couple years ago, and I have never bought a piece of software for that either. It's not because of the OS. My gut sense is that open-source/paid-support model is an ideal, which also provides an incentive for the publisher to produce as good of software as possible. I don't know if Red Hat or Canonical are profitable doing that, but it would be nice if that were the way that everything could work (maybe, I haven't really thought that much about it and am open to rebuttal). I am averse to paying up front for something that I don't really know whether it'll be what I want and won't just be a pile of shit. I don't buy many phone apps either, for that reason.