Re: Asking for money

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Re: Asking for money
by Eric Laffoon on Wednesday 27/Feb/2008, @21:31

Why not do both? Usually people saying such things do niether. In fact statistically it's a safe bet. I have gotten people money to help them out recently in the form of finding work for them to do that I didn't need to have done. So what? That's not relevent to this topic.

I once received an email from a man in his mid 20s in Africa who had been out of work for three years. He was building web sites with Quanta Plus and he was so excited to be earning a living and taking care of his family... He wanted to send a donation. I told him not to. No amount of money is more valuable than knowing you changed someone's life. So what is morally superior, giving a man a fish or giving a man a fishing pole? I don't consider the moral superiority so much as I think about the man and his needs. Many people in third world countries have to choose between illegally using stolen commercial software or free alternatives. For these people an office suite can be a large portion of their annual income. Free software can make a difference there. Even in more prosperous countries few people can afford $100-$500 every time a new task comes up they need to do.

I may have volunteered to work on this, as well as spend thousands of dollars of my own money on it over the years, but Andras is sponsored and it is his primary source of income. Your argument effectively says supporting us bringing the tools of economic freedom in free software isn't as good as a handout of food to hungry people and therefore you can't see financially supporting it. Your moral argument equates to "support commercial software with money, but don't support free (as in freedom) software with money." Or is your position to just steal commercial software?

I'd like to think your average teen ager has a better grasp of ethics and social conscience. I'm doing something to make the world better. I think that's important. You should examine your motivations. If you're not trying to make the world a better place then don't think you should argue for it without first having a clue!

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