A lot of software is available at no cost. Free, as in free beer, or free chai! You can download a GNU/Linux operating system from the Internet, you can download a browser, you get loads of software with the computer magazine you buy, you get a copy of something from your friend – all for free of cost. No charge.
Shouldn’t all Free Software be free of cost too? I mean, if you are getting it for free, why do I pay for it? This is a good question.
The answer is simple! Free software does not mean free of cost software. It means freedom software. Developing software costs money and somebody has to pay the bill. If all software was made free of cost, all software developers would die of starvation soon. If we want to keep innovating in the software business, we need to make money and invest it further. So even if the software is freedom based, you may have to pay for the service you are getting, for the support, consultancy or additional features.
Remember, there is no real thing as a free lunch! There is always some cost associated.
Very true. The other day I was speaking with my Dad and discussing money. Everything has a ‘Cost of Opportunity’ associated with it. If I have money and not using it/need it right now, loaning it to someone is an option who needs it. But should it be done free of cost. Money has an opportunity associated with it, when I loan it to someone, I lose that opportunity, that is what is interest.
Guys read up Ayn Rand’s – Atlas Shrugged