Re: [OT] mothers, free software

[Marcus Brinkmann]

At Thu, 17 Nov 2005 20:43:28 +0100,
ness <address@hidden> wrote:
> This day I had a really enervating discussion about free software with 
> my mother. Finally I got her to claim the following statements:
> 
>   o  One cannot make money with free software
>   o  Free software cannot provide (data) security
> 
> She also called called it fraud if a company sells support for a free 
> program.

Ness, this is all very interesting.  But let me suggest that this is
the wrong forum ;)

Maybe these links can help you:

http://www.germany.fsfeurope.org/documents/eur5greve.en.html
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/
http://www.free-culture.cc/
http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/

There are zillions of successful commercial free software endeavours.
Many of them are local, but there are also some international.  I
would suggest you start to look in your city.

GNU Business Network Definition
http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/gnubiz-disc/2000-December/000014.html

The Success of Open Source (Hardcover) by Steven Weber 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0674012925/104-5612744-6755134?v=glance

If you can read German:
Freie Software Zwischen Privat- und Gemeineigentum 
http://freie-software.bpb.de/

The Emerging Economic Paradigm of Open Source
http://perens.com/Articles/Economic.html

Free Can Mean Big Money: The Open Source Economy
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=8054

The Political Economy of Open Source Software 
http://e-conomy.berkeley.edu/publications/wp/wp140.pdf