Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld) [LWN.net]

Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Posted May 22, 2009 5:49 UTC (Fri) by muwlgr (guest, #35359)
Parent article: Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

"Free products like ... Google Docs" - are they really that free ?

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Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Posted May 22, 2009 8:48 UTC (Fri) by hingo (guest, #14792) [Link] (2 responses)

free as in beer. yes, it was a bit confusing.

Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Posted May 22, 2009 15:28 UTC (Fri) by lacostej (guest, #2760) [Link] (1 responses)

It's always a question of perspective. I liked this quote:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/2008-founders-letter.html

"Like many other web companies, the vast majority of our services are available worldwide and free to users because they are supported by ads. So a child in an Internet cafe in a developing nation can use the same online tools as the wealthiest person in the world. I am proud of the small role Google has played in the democratization of information, but there is much more left to do."

Of course it's not Google that brought us that alone. But I doubt the Microsoft Internet would be as "free" (beer and speech) as the one we have today.

Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Posted May 22, 2009 17:57 UTC (Fri) by hingo (guest, #14792) [Link]

No you're right, Google is a nice company. But the article was so heavily about Free *as-in-speech* Software that it may have been confusing for some to mention Google Docs in the middle of it. (But it did not say that Google would produce Free Software either.)