[ic] Frustrated with IC 4.8

IC-Admin interchange-users@interchange.redhat.com
Mon Sep 17 18:14:00 2001


On Mon, 17 Sep 2001, Sturgisrally.net wrote:

> I was just responding to the topic asking for input on the idea.
> 
> This is my opinion and an opinion is all that it is.
> 
> I did not respond to this topic to have my opinion torn apart and trashed.
> 
> You do not know me or what i have contributed in the past.
> 

Agreed, and if my wording was too coloured, I am willing to apologize.
We live in trying times these days and today it seems to show in my
choice of words. But I don't retreat from my point of view.

Your opinion is one that has been around for a long time, by a lot
of people, who voiced similar logic, by the same online community, who
officially supports open or free software. I have read it so often, and it
really has struck me as being a hypocritical point of view.

I do believe that the people, who support and use open or free software
should be the first to be willing to support its survival, development
and maintenance with whatever means one has available. Monetary rewards
are one of them. I simply think that one lives by example. There are
people who support IC with their programming skills, as mentioned before.
There are other's who don't have the skills and might simply never
get them. But programming support is just one side of the equation.

Such support alone can't make free software to be a viable solution in
most  cases. Without a corporate sponsor or companies, who are able to
sell their services for that software successfully, I don't see, how you
want to accumulate enough resources to support the work on a mission
critical, commercial package, you requested IC to be. 

Many people also seem to think that IC _IS_ already exactly that. It's
nothing I can comment on. The only thing I strongly believe, is, if you
hire the developers and Red Hat folks, they certainly are able to make
this software work in such mission critical business situation.

There is no free lunch, and that's all there is to it, even not for
RMS and ESR and their disciples.
Birgitt Funk