On Thursday 28 October 2004 03:46 pm, faraz khan wrote: > I adore linux , I adore KDE and i adore the people who work on this (I do > too, but not much at all to be noticed). I am becoming a part of a company > that will become a OSS consultancy in Pakistan. I have a VERY basic and > philosophical question that has been raised by my investor and left > unanswered, maybe you can help me out. > > He says: Using OSS, the Hardware vendor makes money- the consultant makes > money, supporter makes money.. EVERYBODY but the poor developer. He wants > to know how, without money, will these developers be able to sustain such > development? > > I do my work just for fun.. gives me great pleasure in watching my programs > being used by others.. Dont you guys wish u would benefit off this too? > doesnt it make u mad that everybody else up the chain is reaping benefits > but not you? > > Just looking for opinions.. I thought KDE might be the best place to ask > since this is ONE MAMMOTH of a OSS project- taking a lot of developer time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- First off let me say that this is purely an opinion of mine and that I am NOT a developer of KDE or for that matter any major Linux project. I am however a person that has run a company for several years that regularly installs Linux & KDE on the systems that we sell. I also have and ongoing project that I work on that is a retail POS system with a complete business operating environment that depends on Linux & KDE. That said, I want to point out that as a developer of any portion of the Linux world you can expect your rewards to come from personal satisfaction & pride of accomplishment. You create a thing and give it to the world. You can make a living from charging others who are not interested in creating a like thing or learning how to use your creation. Very simple, and it works. Also you should consider what you have become a part of. If the entire world can become as civilized as the people that WORK on the creation of Linux projects, the greatest accomplishment of the Human species may include survival, not extinction. Good luck! -- John Foster Linux enthusiast since 1992 ___________________________________________________ . Account management: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde. Archives: http://lists.kde.org/. More info: http://www.kde.org/faq.html.