[Fsf-india] From free beer to free speech?

[VaRuN SiNhA]

When I first started out with GNU software, I didn't know any programming, I
didn't have a clue about freedom (except what my 9th Standard History and
Civics book told me). I just wanted to try out something new. As I kept
exploring the world of the GNU and GNU inspired, I realized the vast secrets
and immense potentials. It started out just as an experiment; now I am going
to start buttering my father to pay for an upgrade to make my system work
better with Linux.

Let us suppose, we harp about FS as free beer. Get people attracted to it
because of it's low or zero cost. IMHO, *at least* half of those people (who
initially bought it because of it's cost) would sit up and say "Hey....this
stuff is cool....I wouldn't mind paying for it" The same logic that some PS
companies follow: get the market addicted to their product (more often than
not my turning a blind-eye to piracy) and then swoop in with expensive
upgrades. Why can't the FS companies do that? Because they can't absorb the
losses. Agreed. The PS companies have huge cash reserves to allow them to
take the losses. But I am convinced that FS companies will have to undergo a
shorter period of losses, because they will be able to prove their quality.

Hypothetical cases:

Case I:

A company wants to setup an intranet. PS cost: 5 lakhs (top of my head, I
have NO idea what they really cost) FS Cost: 50, 000 (?)
FS offers them nearly infinite flexibility: they can have it customized to
suit their needs, bug fixes will be almost immediate....
PS, on the other hand, has *very* limited flexibility, bug
fixes...lol....take forever, and then also not always perfect.

So they spent a fraction of the cost, saw it's value. Next time they want a
software/service, they contact the FS company who says "OK....now we'll
charge a lakh". Customer goes "Hell....it's worth it...great software,
fraction of the cost"

This cycle can be/will be repeated until FS company is charging as
much/little less than PS company. The deciding factor, then will be quality
of software. No guesses on who will win there.

I spent 3000 bucks on a boxed Linux. I have probably spent 10% of that on PS
my entire life. Simply because I knew that spending that 3000 was BIG TIME
worth it. Why not others, if not me.

That is one reason why I believe that free-beer aspect is important.

Case II My father is a professor. My mum also works. We aren't rich - we're
comfortable, but we won't go abroad every year. For us, cost is probably
*the* most important factor while purchasing most things (esp. computer
related stuff). My mum uses Windows at home simply because that's what came
with it. Tomorrow, if someone came and said "Ma'am, here is this OS and
office suite, free of charge and it's really good" she would use it. She
doesn't care about freedom. She doesn't know *single* bit of any
programming; the free (speech) aspect of software doesn't concern her. She
is not very intested in the principles of software - she simply doesn't have
the time. Between juggling housework and office work, she just wants her job
done and for as little as possible. She installs the free (beer) SW, see
that it absolutely ROCKS. She calls the FS people. "Is it possible for
<certain feature not present> to be done?" "No ma'am, but for 150 we can add
that feature" 150....not a big amount....but they are adding this nifty
feature...."OK...done".

She sees the quality of FS. She tells her office about it. Next time the
office is upgrading, they contact the FS company, who customizes their
software as well, at a fraction of PS cost.

The before-mentioned cycle continues.

So the way I see, it harping on the free (beer) aspect, isn't really that
bad.