Microsoft's recent survey proclaimed nearly half the population believe it is ok to use pirated software for personal use. This diminishes the argument by Linux advocates that you can use their operating system without any cost. Yet, you can't confuse free as in cost with free as in freedom. Here's what FOSS really means.

Software costs money. Some people avoid this cost initially by slyly using an unauthorized version, or what is called pirated software.

"I am a supporter and user of free software (though I admit I have not migrated entirely). I research and write about the social movement aspect of free software, and its potential as a model for alternative social organization beyond the realm of software development. I am inspired by the future envisioned by free software and take heart from its existence here and now.

This September 20, we will once again commemorate the Software Freedom Day (SFD).

New Delhi resident Raj Mathur is living proof that a Free and Open Source Software advocate can earn a decent living working with clients who are using or planning to use FOSS. Raj has also been a member of the Open Source Initiative board of directors and is a leading member of his local Linux users group. He's also contributed to more than a few Free Software projects over the years.

Not only do you not own that copy of Microsoft Word, that video game, or even that MP3 player, but like most people using commercial software (be it pirated or paid for in a shop), you also don't own any other way of accessing your information...

The paper is particularly interesting because it focuses on how businesses integrate free software and open source components into software and services that they distribute to customers. This is an interesting contrast to most similar surveys that study FOSS adoption by businesses, because most surveys of this nature tend to focus on companies using FOSS as infrastructure.

The main factor working against the growth of open source software in Asia has been the ready availability of pirated versions of Microsoft's software. However, open source advocates are gaining traction in places such as Nepal, where Linux is growing in popularity.

"Despite the considerable advances that the free software has made in the last years in its «market share» in different fields in informatics, only in a few of this fields free software has the supremacy. One of these is the field of web servers.