linuxaudio.org

Hi Andreas, hi Steve,
> But then he writes this: "In fact, there are still those totally

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> illogical people who think that all software should be free, no

> matter how much effort has been put into creating it - but that's

> an argument for another day! I'm sure those people wouldn't want to

> leave their front doors open with a 'Help Yourself To All My Stuff'

> sign outside, yet that seems to be exactly what they expect from

> software companies."

Yes, that's the paragraph I was referring to! There's the assumption

that software developers and software 'consumers' are two distinct

groups, set up in opposition. 
> this "Editor in Chief" obviously does not even know

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> what he is writing about.

He certainly knows a lot about recording technology, but Linux and

free software are relatively new to the pages of SoS, so I can

forgive the misunderstanding.
Indeed, there probably are people who refuse to ever pay for

proprietary software because they are just mean. The same kind of

people who try to get on the guest list for a benefit gig.
However, I strongly suspect that people complain about paying for

upgrades to Logic because they don't like the way they have been

treated by Apple. If I bought a guitar, and it turned out to be

unplayable because it hadn't been properly tested before leaving the

factory, then I'd be really upset if I had to pay again just to make

it work as expected. I'd probably demand that it was fixed for free

too.
> One could (and should) ask what Sound On

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> Sound has to gain by bashing the Free and Open Source movements.

If we were being cynical we could say that proprietary software

companies pay a lot to advertise in magazines like SoS, but I really

don't think that's a factor here. As Steve pointed out, the article

doesn't specifically mention Free Software, just the idea that

software should be free.
In my experience SoS is genuinely editorially independent, but you

have to bear in mind that the contributors have been running

proprietary music software for 20 years or more. They probably have

the same confusion as most of their readers between proprietary

freeware and free software. Or binaries with physical property, for

that matter. I hope my letter can help clear things up a bit. 
Cheers!
Daniel