> yeah, that's another point - I'm not convinced that the free software
> thing is really that serious an alternative economic model - it
> involves lots of free riding on the resources of parents and employers,
> no? - how, can the free exchange of code deal with a world where we
> still have to use cash money to eat and secure shelter?
Because the population is big enough, skilled enough, and talented enough to provide a large base of volunteers and hobbyists.
People have pointed out that the free software movement does depend on people working other jobs, stealing time from employers, and so on.
Why is this an issue? The sheer amount fo free software out there is amazing. You don't even need to pirate proprietary software anymore.
I have three computers at home. The main one is an old workhorse of a Pentium desktop manufactured by Gateway in 1998. I use it mainly because
the drive contains gigabytes of important data that I don't want to put on a laptop. This computer runs Windows2000 and it has loads of pirated software. The computer has been having problems running Firefox and Thunderbird at the same time lately.
I got my Toshiba laptop last year. It runs WindowsXP, but I mostly use free software like OpenOffice, Firefox and Inkscape. I've recently downloaded more free software like Scribus, Eclipse and NetBeans IDE by Sun.
I also have a machine running Ubuntu Linux in my studio. Haven't had the time to fully explore all of the free stuff available for that platform. Ubuntu is amazing.
Chuck -------------------------- Bread and Roses Web Design serving small businesses, non-profits, artists and activists http://www.breadandrosesweb.com/