It used to be a given that free enterprise software came with a price tag for the technical support necessary to implement and maintain it. However, the FOSS community has expanded to the point that a vast array of free resources are available for help with just about any conceivable project or problem. Many companies are finding they don't have to purchase costly support contracts.

The purpose of open-source and the ideal which it follows is not to let people steal eachother's work, but to improve upon previous designs.

Very few Ubuntu users, at least outside of the enterprise, pay for support. Instead, they turn to various free resources, ranging from IRC channels to the documentation wiki to the official Ubuntu Forums, when they run into trouble. While free support in the Ubuntu world is often quite good, it could be improved if those providing it paid more attention to a few key guidelines.

We all know we can use open source software without paying, but the real question is: what compels people to buy free stuff? Most widely used free and open source software can also be purchased. We are not speaking of alternative commercial licensing, in this context. We are talking about purchasing support contracts and add-ons for open source software.

Why does Red Hat tolerate CentOS?

After years of hostility towards Free Software Foundation (FSF) licensing (here and here) Microsoft has announced the first in a series of PHP patches - and it's using an FSF license.

At one point in the lesson I brought up open source, and he nearly turned red saying, “Nothing is free.” That statement got me to thinking about free, open source, and open source projects. He is right - nothing is free.

"Ordinarily, when you think of the phrase ‘free software’, the definition that comes to mind is a piece of tool that can be used or modified freely without any restriction.

The methodologies of Open Source are not owned or guided by any one person. The closest thing we have are the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and support of the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The OSI certifies what qualifies as an open source license.