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There are a fair amount of things that are better when they're not free. I remember spending a half hour or so wading through free credit report offers online

There are a fair amount of things that are better when they're not free. I remember spending a half hour or so wading through free credit report offers online to find one I could pay fifteen dollars for. Why? In that case no one's doing it for fun do they have to be making money somewhere to pay for the ads. I'll take the devil I know over the devil I don't. With open source you know why it's free - the least altruistic possibility is there's a user whose main motivation is solving the particular issue you have, and that it's open in the hopes that someone can improve it. With freeware, who knows.

cplat 14y ago
Yes, there are a lot of kinds of software that are better if they're paid. The main reason being the amount of concentrated research and work that has to be done. And let's not forget copyrighted and patented technologies that can make something "non-free." GIMP is great, but Photoshop is a killer tool. Same goes with Computer Algebra Systems and Electronics tools. These are areas where open source is yet to catch up. However, when it comes to web servers, programming languages, databases, and any great cutting edge technology, open source just rocks. The very building blocks of most of the software today is open source. And that's marvelous.
- chii 14y ago
  In other words, utility software (that is, software that has a use for a wide variety of applications such as OS, server tools and programming languages) tend to be more and more free - simply because so many people need it, that it quickly turns into a sort of commodity. Specialist software, which includes photoshop, but there are heaps of others like electronic circut design software, and geological survey software, tend to be paid for simply because no one uses it (other than the handful of profrssionals). The cost to make them can't be amortized across millions of its users.

cplat 14y ago

Yes, there are a lot of kinds of software that are better if they're paid. The main reason being the amount of concentrated research and work that has to be done. And let's not forget copyrighted and patented technologies that can make something "non-free." GIMP is great, but Photoshop is a killer tool. Same goes with Computer Algebra Systems and Electronics tools. These are areas where open source is yet to catch up. However, when it comes to web servers, programming languages, databases, and any great cutting edge technology, open source just rocks. The very building blocks of most of the software today is open source. And that's marvelous.

chii 14y ago
In other words, utility software (that is, software that has a use for a wide variety of applications such as OS, server tools and programming languages) tend to be more and more free - simply because so many people need it, that it quickly turns into a sort of commodity. Specialist software, which includes photoshop, but there are heaps of others like electronic circut design software, and geological survey software, tend to be paid for simply because no one uses it (other than the handful of profrssionals). The cost to make them can't be amortized across millions of its users.