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Knock it off, Bren.

.tsooJ

Iritscen wrote:

I find it interesting that not one person has spoken up in agreement with me on even one of my points since the thread started.

Are you familiar with the old illustration about straws and rafters and being able to correctly diagnose the problems you perceive?

Can I at least engage in circular thinking or a straw man argument? What about an appeal to pity? How 'bout a little confirmation bias?

Please?

Come on, you're killin' me!

<GASP>


<COUGH, CHOKE>


<SPASM>


<GASP>





<BLUE SCREEN OF OPEN SOURCE ILLEGAL EXCEPTION ERROR! HELLO, THE USB 2.0 DEVICE, BREN WAS NOT PROPERLY EJECTED. DATA LOSS MAY OCCUR. PLEASE DOWNLOAD SNAPPLE FLAPPINTOSH BRITTLEWARE UPDATE 0.0003B OR CLICK HERE TO REPORT THIS ERROR TO REFURBISHED EMACHINES AFTERLIFE SPIRITUAL SUPPORT CALL CENTER. FATAL EXCEPTION POODLE GROOMER>

Hmm. I have a better analogy than my other ones.

If I stop and pick up a hitchhiker by the side of the road, should I be taxed in order to support or protect the bus industry?

Iritscen wrote:

FOSS, on the other hand, is usually not of such lower quality that the priced alternative is markedly more "convenient" in the form of having many more features or better tech support.  The priced software may have some features the free software doesn't, but any FOSS that's actively in development is working to bridge those gaps, because users will continue to complain and request those features specifically because they are in the priced software.  Therefore, the advantage in convenience that you brought up in your "apt" analogies actually applies a lot more to FOSS than to commercialware, because for many people the "free" outweighs some loss in functionality.

I think you undervalue support.  Community support is nice an all but there really is no incentive for anyone to answer your question.  For things like a word processor or such that may not be a big deal, but when you start getting into complex pieces of software that can become quite important.  The companies most likely to suffer are those that treat their customers like crap or treat support like a waste of money.

Iritscen wrote:

And yet M$ hasn't sued despite the fact that nearly every element of the interface is as close as possible to Excel's.  Could it be that FOSS is effectively outside the law, if not in letter, but in the public eye?  Think of the PR damage this would do to most companies ("How dare they sue some poor developers who aren't even making money doing this!"). It probably makes a company hesitate before pushing that "sic the lawyers" button.

Putting asside PR for a moment a case of that nature would be very risky in the first place.  Many companies have had look and feel cases shot down (see Lotus v. Borland).  Unless there is direct copying of a fixed item such as toolbar icons, etc I doubt much would come of it. 

Iritscen wrote:

I find it interesting that not one person has spoken up in agreement with me on even one of my points since the thread started.  Since when do you guys all agree on anything?  Is FOSS really so unquestionably good, so beyond reproach and criticism, that you can put aside all your philosophical and political differences to agree on this one issue?  I find that hard to believe.  Surely you're not under the spell of free software because it's just that convenient?

To be honest it's sort of a silly position and many of the points were just factually wrong.  I am sure if I started a thread on here saying The late Mother Terisa was a nasty person I would probably find little support.

Actually, you would find more support for that Mother Teresa argument.