[Der_Einzige]

Actual proof that not capitalism can work. Free software writers don't need a profit motive. They mainly do it for the love of creation itself. They are an implementation of the ideal un-alienated individual that marx dreamed all humans could hopefully become like.

Celebrate developers refusal to commodities their means of production. I hope it stays firmly in the GNU ecosystem.

[jamesej]

While I support the principle, what actually happens is that the companies which make money use your work to generate that money for free. And your desire to build something useful 'for the love of creation' means people who could have got paid to support their families can't because you've undercut them in the market with your zero pricing, using the privilege which allowed you to spend significant time on building something valuable for the hell of it. Then when you try and charge for something this is viewed as somehow immoral, thus pressuring you to provide your work for free and making the multinationals even happier.

[warkdarrior]

> Free software writers don't need a profit motive.

Yes until someone takes their free software and packages it as a cloud service. Then all you hear is "I want to get paid for the software I shared for free."