Do you ever pay for free software? / myLot

Canada

February 9, 2007 8:11pm CST

There are a lot of great free projects out there. Take for instance the Firefox web browser, the Thunderbird email program, and the Wikepidia encyclopedia. There are tens if not hundreds of engineers and programmers who work on a voluntary basis on these projects. In order to keep going, some of these projects ask users to make donations or to buy products. Personally I bought a firefox polo some time ago and made a donation to wikipedia. Have you ever supported some free projects like these?

2 people like this

8 responses

manu_ghimire

@manu_ghimire (2626)

• India

10 Feb 07

well see ! many people donates ! and even i want to give support to those who are working very hard and providing services for us ! and nearby future i will be ! but the present condition with me is worse then ever ! i have no money no job nothing in hand i am in learning period ! so basically once i reach the point where i will have enough money i will donate some all around in such things ! presently i am buying or taking paid membership over internet for my academic purpose !

2 people like this

kiwimac

@kiwimac (323)

• New Zealand

10 Feb 07

If I have money to spare, yes. But I don't often, I use Freeware because I believe that these products are often better than the ones you pay for as the designers are open to feedback from their user-group.

2 people like this

freeare

paying for freeware

spiderman05

@spiderman05 (851)

• Canada

10 Feb 07

That's true, the fact that it is open source makes it much more reliable. Just compare Linux ans Windows.

1 person likes this

narayanshravan

@narayanshravan (151)

• India

10 Feb 07

well buddyy...u really seem to have a passionfor develping the future of free software....and ya u also seem to ahve some ethical values..i really appreciate that...but dude..i guess..pple like u r hard to find as free software has bcome the real big thing over the net and...pple take it for granted.. and ya these things dont come cheap do thay......?and u have got to have ahefty purse to pay these bills dont u...

1 person likes this

mobey or free

spiderman05

@spiderman05 (851)

• Canada

10 Feb 07

The problem is that many people take these products for granted. Thank you for your comment.

1 person likes this

suedarr

@suedarr (2382)

• Canada

15 Feb 07

I agree with you that these programs are often taken for granted. I have never made a donation as of yet, but my hubby has made small ones, pretty much same as you $10 - $20 bux.

wmg2006

@wmg2006 (5381)

• United States

25 Feb 07

I don't do this very often, but I have made donations to some programs I knew I would use for a very long time. Some of the free stuff is just not good enough to use so I always wait and see if I will really use the program for a long time.

1 person likes this

bryan0822

@bryan0822 (56)

• Philippines

10 Feb 07

yeah its stupid paying for free softwares but i think we should also help programmers who do the free softwares by giving out donations but ofcourse it is on our prerogative

1 person likes this