It seems to be a very famous question : how can free software developers make money to live. They spend a lot of time and effort on something that they'll never sell..

Mako: "Dear free software supporter, Now is the time to join and give to Free Software Foundation. 2008 is going to be extraordinarily important year for free software. Eben Moglen likes to quote Gandhi's "first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win" progression when describing the free software movement. As I pointed out when I joined the FSF board, we're beginning to see powerful interests fighting free software. It's going to increase in the next few years. Things will probably get a lot uglier for free software before they get better. We can win but things are far from settled. The FSF is the front-line organization in this fight and we need a robust and proactive foundation, and an active and involved membership, if we're going to win.

People continue to wonder how to make money in the free and open source software world. It’s dressed up in discussions of how one makes money when you give away the software for free.

Free software began as a political movement where the central aim was the propagation of freedom. Later, it became a development methodology too and later still, free software also became a way of making serious money. Glyn Moody examines this evolution

The Free Software Foundation have announced that they are to start shipping new, bootable, membership cards in January.

"...Now is the time to join and give to Free Software Foundation. 2008 is going to be extraordinarily important year for free software.

Eben Moglen likes to quote Gandhis first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win progression when describing the free software movement. As I pointed out when I joined the FSF board, were beginning to see powerful interests fighting free software. Its going to increase in the next few years. Things will probably get a lot uglier for free software before they get better. We can win but things are far from settled. The FSF is the front-line organization in this fight and we need a robust and proactive foundation, and an active and involved membership, if were going to win.

"The annual free software conference LibrePlanet is the place for the free software community -- from old school hackers to brand new users -- to come together and further the collective goals of the free software movement.

"Welcome to the all new Fee Software Supporter! — the Free Software Foundation's monthly news digest and action update. Each month we will highlight some of the important work being done by the FSF, and give an update on recent happenings in the GNU project and the campaign for software freedom. Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by adding our subscriber widget to your website..."

Free software can be viewed as sort of a public good — everyone can benefit from it. Instead of paying for complete applications, buyers may wish to only pay for specific program elements they want, which the software lacks. Therein lies an opportunity to make money on free software, instead of around it.