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----- Original Message -----
From: <puff -at- guild -dot- net>
> I used to write docs for a living. During that time I
dealt with
> the tech support guys a lot, and I even did a one-week stint
working
> in tech support. I know those folks worked hard, but I develop
> software for a living now, and I've dealt a lot with the
commercial
> software world from the other side. The idea that commercial
software
> is supported is a myth. I've found that the support companies
offer is
> often literally non-existent, or consists largely of:
Thanks, I can now fire those five guys I've been paying to answer
the phone lines I'm also paying for. I didn't realize they were a
myth, I thought they were supposed to be trained and managed. And
think of the time we will save not tracking customer incidents!
Free software is a myth. Someone is paying for it. If no one else,
the programmer who makes it, but probably the company or
organization that pays that person.
I don't have any problem with open source, but I don't think 'free
software'is any more noble than 'free novels'or 'free lunch'.
And with many of these projects, you have to pay for it by putting
up with the attitudes of the control freeks who write it. If it
were 'free' there would be no conditions on it at all. You have to
pay for it by joining and validating their ego trip.
There are people who contribute their efforts by giving out free
source with no limitations. But there are others who have a big
chip on their shoulder and just want you to admire it. That's
their right if that's the price they want to charge for their
contributions. But I don't pretend it is either free or open.
Actually, if the people who have delveloped some of this open
source are salaried employees working for ewither the government
directly, for universities and nonprofits, or for government
contractors, and they don't have explicit contracts with their
employers that grant them the right to do this, it could be argued
that their contributions actually beloing to their employers.
I assume tech writeres are the same way, if you are a salaried
employee everything you write (whether it is on 9 to 5 time or
not) belongs to your employer unless oyu have an explicit
agreement that exempts your outside efforts. On the other hand, if
you are a contractor, what you write belongs to you unless you
explicitly contract that right away.
Brad Jensen
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