This is a little bit off topic. If you are busy, you can save this, and
read later.

On Fri, 18 Jun 1999, Harald Klein wrote:

> > Shareware is brain-dead idea, as well as proprietary software. Period.
> 
> If you have to live on your software, it is different. 

It IS possible to code free software and get monetary reward from that. I am
helluva sure, that in future more and more companies, universities and other
communities start to hire programmers for coding of free software. But very
much coding of free software is done as hobby and during free-time etc., of
course.

There exist many companies and private entrepreneurs, that sell support and
consultation for free software. For example Richard M. Stallman, founder of
of Free Software Foundationi, codes only free software but he does not
starve at all. Here is citation from one interview (BYTE July 1986):

(citation starts)

BYTE: A cynic might wonder how you earn your living.

Stallman: From consulting.  When I do consulting, I always reserve the right
to give away what I wrote for the consulting job.  Also, I could be making
my living by mailing copies of the free software that I wrote and some that
other people wrote. Lots of people send in $150 for GNU EMACS, but now this
money goes to the Free Software Foundation that I started.  The foundation
doesn't pay me a salary because it would be a conflict of interest.
Instead, it hires other people to work on GNU.  As long as I can go on
making a living by consulting I think that's the best way.

(citation ends)

Those two guys called "Mandrake" (Geoff Harrison) and "Rasterman" (Carsten
Haitzler) code a windowmanager called Enlightenment for X Window System.
I use it myself, too.

http://www.enlightenment.org/

Recently VA Research hired them. That company sells computers with
pre-installed Linux.

http://www.varesearch.com/

Here is citation from recent interview:

http://www.linuxpower.org/display_item.phtml?id=121

(citation starts)

Jeremy: Are you at all concerned about anti VA Linux Systems sentiments from
people believing they are becoming "too commercial"? --- --- 

Raster: they always have been commercial - their business is to sell
hardware. there's nothing non-commercial about selling hardware - just
software we write makes their hardware look better so it's a value add to
them.

(citation ends)

Support companies for free software exist and more is coming: 

http://www.wilberworks.com/

http://www.gnomesupport.com/

http://www.sendmail.com/

Some companies collect free software in CD-ROMs and sell them in very cheap
price:

http://www.cheapbytes.com/

http://www.cdrom.com/

Red Hat Software is a company, that sells CD-ROMs and support for their
Linux-distribution. Their Linux-distribution itself is free software, of
course.

http://www.redhat.com/

Recently they filed a registration statement with the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission for IPO (the initial public
offering) of their common stock. 

http://www.redhat.com/corp/press_ipo.html

Red Hat also has so called Advanced Development Laboratories. All its
members get paid for coding of free software. Very much coding of Gnome
happens inside those labs. 

http://www.labs.redhat.com/

http://www.labs.redhat.com/who.shtml

S.u.S.E is German Linux-distributor. They have started so called "SuSE
Linux Labs". It hires programmers for coding of free software. Their
projects are mostly coding of important parts of Linux.

http://www.suse.de/e/press/index.html 

One of its programers is Jaroslav Kysela, main coder of ALSA (Advaced Linux
Sound Architecture). Here is citation of an interview:

http://www2.crosswinds.net/~linuxmusic/software.html

(citation starts)
Jaroslav Kysela started with a sound driver he needed to support
a sound card, and this grew into the ALSA project which he co-ordinates.
Recently, Jaroslav started work with S.u.S.E. and will be spending
around sixty per cent of his time on the A.L.S.A. project.
(citation ends)


-- Juhapekka "naula" Tolvanen *  U of Jyväskylä * [log in to unmask] --
-- http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~juhtolv/ * * " STRAIGHT BUT NOT NARROW ! " --
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" Prince esta muerto. Prince esta muerto. Que viva para siempre el
Poder de la Nueva Generacion. "                                   O(+>



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