grnidone - 7:28 pm on Mar 13, 2001 (gmt 0)

Yes, Little, I think you are right. There will be more gnu type programs out there. I think making Linux available to the masses (or at least easier to put on a machine than most other unix systems) helped the movement tremendously.

However, I think there are a couple of other aspects involved as well as just keeping the wheels turning.

I think some programmers do open source because their project is something they really believe in and they want others to use it and make it more popular. To make it more popular, they let it go for free so people will use it.

My husband works on NetBSD for this reason: he believes it is a good operating system and wants others to use it so it becomes more popular. If more people decide to use NetBSD because it runs well, then he is happy.

On the other hand, I think there is a sort of pride aspect as well. If you can get a bunch of people using and liking the app you made, then you can say "I made that.."

That has to feel good.

Even if you just fix a bug, you can say "Ya know how that program had this particular bug? Well..I fixed it." That has to feel good too.

And if you keep your "wheels turning" in the process, well then all the better. Programmer types like to have their wheels turning..they are 'puzzle people'.

-G