FSFLA/ blogs/ lxo/ 2008-02-07-give-a-man-a-fish.en

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Blonging for Freedom

This is Alexandre Oliva's personal blog, that does not necessarily represent the opinions held by FSFLA, LibrePlanet-BR, AdaCore or any other organization the author may be or may have been associated with, or even by myself, as of now or ever.

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So, you need software to solve a specific problem you have, you've looked around in the marketplace and you know you have the following options:

  • non-Free Software that does exactly what you need, and is available right now

  • Free Software that would require some development and customization to do address your need

What do you do?


I assume you're familiar with that saying:

Give a man a fish, you have fed him for today.

Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime.


The mechanics actually go a bit further:

Give a man a fish, you have fed him for today. Tomorrow, he'll be hungry again, and he'll come back for more.

Teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime, and he may very well give you some of the fish he gets, and he may even become a successful professional fisherman.


Sure, learning may take more effort, but it's obvious that it pays off for the future fisher, and quite possibly also for you.


You may be thinking that this is fishy. What does this have to do with finding software to fulfill my needs?, you ask. Everything.

Just be 'a man' ;-)


Get a piece of non-Free Software, you'll have addressed your needs for today. Tomorrow, you'll have new needs, and then you'll have to go back to the vendor.

Get involved in the development of a piece of Free Software, and you'll be able to take care of yourself forever. And you can contribute to the community while at that, and even make a business out of it.


Where do you wanna fish today?

Just don't tell me you have bigger fish to fry!

So long and thanks for all the... Bah!, that's enough! Are you a man or a... dolphin?

Oh, and happy GNU year of the rat!

So blong...